


Five Times the Charmed Ones Saved Their Whitelighter (And One Time He Saved Them)

by Cinder



Category: Charmed (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Mentions of a mental institution, mention of a panic attack in the second chapter, mostly a family fic but some minor Harry/Macy and Jada/Mel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 19:22:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17229758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinder/pseuds/Cinder
Summary: Harry doesn’t remember having a family - all he knows is that for all of his life, he’s been taught to put himself in the line of fire to protect others. So it’s a surprise to him that he learns that if you protect family, they’re going to protect you right back.Note: This takes place after 1x08. All the episodes after don't happen in this story.





	1. Saved From a Cold

Harry was a Whitelighter. He had been entrusted by the most powerful witches in the world to protect and guard witches. He was a guardian of the righteous, a warrior who had been taught to lay down his life for others, to protect others for the sake of all that was good in the world.

He did not get colds. 

“It’s definitely a cold,” Mel said, staring at him, unconvinced. “You sneezed like ten times in the last hour.”

“And you sound all stuffed up,” Macy added.

“And you look…kinda gross,” Maggie said. He glared at her. “No offense.” 

“I am bine, I mean bine, I mean fine, I…,” he said, trying to sound dignified with a stuffed nose, and trying very hard not to cough. He resumed looking at the Book of Shadows, ignoring the stares of the Veras. He tried to focus on the book, something that wasn’t easy with his head throbbing. They had a demon to identify, and yet all he wanted to do was go home, have about five pots of tea, and then fall asleep for days.

He leapt back as something cold touched his cheek. He looked around frantically until he realized that it was just Maggie. 

“You’re burning up,” Maggie said, her gaze now worried. “Have you taken your temperature today?”

“I’ll get the thermometer,” Mel said, sighing. 

“I don’t need a thermometer,” he said, walking after Mel. “We need to get back to work. There is a demon stealing people’s -“ He started down the attic stairs after Mel, and suddenly sneezed, his head was light, and fuzzy, and suddenly his legs seemed to stop working. He heard a scream as his foot slid off the stairs, and he began falling forward -

And then he was standing in the attic, falling into Macy. He stumbled, and she caught him by the shoulders, righting him. “Mel caught you,” she said by way of explanation. She led him over to the bed that he had shoved in the corner of the attic, when he had been staying with the Veras. 

“I’ll get new sheets,” Maggie said cheerfully. “And the hot water bottle. And Google what the best tea is for colds.” 

They were getting too distracted. Harry tried to stand up, but Macy put her hand on his shoulders, keeping hi sitting on the bed.

“Harry, you need to rest.” she said. 

“It’s just a cold.” Harry said. “I’ll take some more medicine and I’ll be fine.” 

“This is you on medicine?” Macy nearly shrieked. “How bad were you before you took it?”

It had taken him nearly two hours to get up this morning, but he didn’t need to tell her that. 

“Look, it’s a simple cold, it’s not serious-“

“Harry, if Mel hadn’t stopped time on the stairs, then you’d be in an ambulance right now. Or you’d be dead of a broken neck.” 

That stopped Harry for a second. Then he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. The most important thing is finding -“

“The best tea for colds?” Maggie reappeared at the top of the stairs, holding a teapot with one hand, a hot water bottle with the other, and a teacup dangling from her pinkie. “I wasn’t quite sure, so I went with Sleepytime Tea. Sounds nice, right?”

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but as Maggie walked closer the steam from the teapot hit him and he nearly slumped into the bed. Maggie began to pour a cup of tea as Mel reappeared. Or more accurately, a stack of sheets, blankets and pillows that had Mel’s feet. 

“Thanks for leaving me alone to carry all this,” Mel’s muffled voice said. The pile suddenly began lifting itself out of Mel’s arms, and floating over to the bed. Maggie gently took Harry’s arm and helped him stand up as Macy began to telekinetically make the bed. 

The bed, the tea, the heavenly warmth emitting from the hot water bottle… Harry wanted nothing more than to sink into the bed and fall asleep. He thought there was something he was supposed to do though…

“And don’t worry about the demon,” Maggie said, pushing a cup of tea into Harry’s hands. Oh right, there was a demon… “So he’s stolen some good luck charms from a few students. Nobody’s dying, nobody’s possessed, we’ll worry about it tomorrow. 

Harry took a sip of the tea, closing his eyes as it soothed his sore throat. Maybe the demon could wait until tomorrow…

He sank into the bed, his eyes shutting instantly. There was a small part of him that was yelling to get up, to get back to looking for the demon, that he was shirking his duty - and then, a second later, his brain shut down and he was asleep. 

*

Harry opened his eyes to birdsong, and blinked. He was in the Veras’ attic. Why had he been sleeping in the Veras’ attic - 

“Oh good, you’re up.” He turned his head to see Maggie sitting next to the bed. She had her legs slung over the arm of a chair, her phone in her hands. “We were kind of worried you were sleeping so much.” 

Harry rubbed his eyes. “How long was I out?” Daylight was streaming through the windows.

“You fell asleep around 8, it is currently… Maggie looked at her phone, “5:30 in the afternoon”. 

“8 o’c— I was sleep for almost 24 hours?!” 

“Well, yeah. You were really out of it. I’m not sure how much you much remember of last night, but you nearly fell down a flight of stairs.” 

“Sadly enough, I do remember that.”

“Mel says you owe her your life now,” Maggie said cheerfully.

“Lovely.” Harry groaned. 

“I did save you from breaking your neck,” Mel said, walking into the attic. Macy was close behind her, and Harry was suddenly uncomfortably aware of his messy hair and slept in clothes. He tried to smooth down his hair, but it kept sticking up in clumps. 

“Thank you for that,” Harry said to Mel. He tried to get up, but Macy put a gentle hand on his chest. 

“You still need to rest,” she said firmly. “One night of sleep isn’t enough to fix you up.” 

“There’s still a demon out there -“

“We caught him,” Maggie said.

“By yourself?” Harry shot up, ignoring his pounding head. “You could have been in serious danger -“

“Which is why we went together, and anyways, it was only a small demon. Barely a threat, according to the book,” Mel said, gesturing to the Book of Shadows. 

“It was still dangerous…” Harry said.

“We’re the Charmed Ones. He have to learn how to handle a demon without a safety net sometime,” Me said. 

“But -“

“We’re fine, we’re alive, and you no longer look like a hell demon warmed over,” Macy said. She pushed a tea cup into his hands. “And now you have a few days to rest up before another crisis inevitably pops up.” 

“Well -“ Harry looked around, at a loss for what to do.

“You’re our Whitelighter. How can you help us if you’re sick?” Mel said. She crossed her arms. “It’s in our best interests if you just take a few days to recoup.” 

Harry opened his mouth and then closed it again. “Well, I can’t argue with that,” he said, leaning back against the bed. 

“Good.” Mel shoved Maggie’s feet off the chair arm and sat down on it. “We need you in top shape.” 

“I’ll remember that,” Harry said, sipping his tea, leaning back in the bed.


	2. Saved From Witch Hunters

“You know, I always said I’d be burned at the stake, but I kind of meant that metaphorically. Like, in a ‘woman have always been attacked when they didn’t met society’s expectations’ way,” Mel said. She turned her head as far as it would go, trying to see Harry. “I don’t suppose this is all part of a training test or something?”

“Rather unfortunately, no,” Harry said. 

Mel sighed, continue to root around in her back pocket, trying to find the hair pin. It always seemed to go right at the very side of the pocket, making it nearly impossible to get out. It didn’t help that the cuffs around her hands and chains around her arms were massively restricting her mobility.

“You know, I would have thought if there were people in the area that liked to burn witches at the stake, we would have, you know, maybe been warned about it.”

So that, when going out for a simple training session, they would have realized the demon they were hunting was simply bait. So that when the witch hunters kidnapped them, Maggie and Macy would have known something was wrong, rather than probably just think that Mel’s solo training session was running a bit late. So that she wouldn’t wake up chained to a damn stake with her Whitelighter.

“Witch hunters are extremely stealthy. They know their opponents have powers beyond their abilities, so what strengths they do have they are extremely skilled in. They know that stealth is one of their strongest weapons, and they use it accordingly.”

Mel’s fingers brushed against the jean fabric repeatedly, her movements growing more and more frantic as she couldn’t find the pin. She knew she had put in her back right pocket. She was positive about it. So why couldn’t she -

She signed in relief as her fingers finally hit something metal.

“Got it.”

She could feel Harry sighing too, his back against hers relaxing just the slightest bit.

“And you’ve done this before?”

“Of course.” Once. She was glad they were tied back to back so he couldn’t see her face.

She felt around with her fingers until she found Harry’s cuffs, and then ran her hands over them to find the lock. Once she did that, it was a simple matter of unlocking a pair of solid steel cuffs. While unable to see the lock. Minutes from being burned at the stake.

“How long do you think we have?” She tried to make herself forget that fact that, even if she got the cuffs restricting Harry’s powers unlocked, they would still have to get hers off, and then somehow figure out how to get out of the chains tying them to the stake.

“I’m not sure,” Harry said. She could feel his fingers trying to reach up, to touch the sigils that were engraved on the cuffs. “I have to admit, it’s fascinating how they’re using magic to take down magic.”

“They probably have some bullshit justification they tell themselves,” Mel muttered, trying to ignore the people around them, collecting wood and pouring gasoline.

“It’s quite advanced though - it’s no easy task to cut off a Whitelighter and witch’s powers -“

“Harry, I get that you’re trying to distract us from our very imminent-looking deaths, but please shut up and let me concentrate.”

“Right, sorry.”

Mel worked in silence for a few minutes, trying to ignore the fact that more and more people had stopped gathering wood, and were drifting towards the stake. She felt her breath hitching in panic, feeling the time running out.

“You’re doing great Mel,” Harry said calmly. “Just stay focused.”

She was trying, but her breath was hitching even more. She was seconds away from a panic attack. She struggling to control her breathing. She was not going to give these bastards the satisfaction of watching her struggle.

Harry grabbed her hand with his own. “It’s okay.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “Just breathe.”

Mel tried to do so, and then coughed. The combination of the gasoline and smoke were making her -

Smoke?

“Oh no no no no,” she said, watching as a hunter came forward, holding a large branch up. At its top, fire burned, throwing sparks and smoke everywhere.

“Stall,” Mel managed to say, her fingers working even more frantically with the pin. She wanted to rush, but if she dropped the pin then it was all over. She and Harry had no powers, no one who knew they were in danger, and were chained to a stake. Their only hope lay in a minute piece of metal that she had used once.

She was going to vomit.

“I don’t suppose we get a last request?” Harry asked. Mel heard his voice as though from very far away, desperately trying to focus on the pin.

“Silence, demon!” The man with the branch waved it in front of Harry.

“I am not a demon.” Harry said. “That’s actually quite offensive.” Goddess help him, he actually legitimately sounded irritated by this, rather than the huge fucking burning branch being shoved in his face.

“You protect witches. You and your kind were sent by the devil to guide this girl so you could corrupt -”

“Seriously, did you just get this all out of a grade-school book about witch trials?” Harry asked.

“But we found you. You and the witch will no longer be allowed to plague this town. You’ll both burn -”

Mel felt the lock give.

“Harry -”

“Right.” 

Mel felt power surging back into Harry’s hands. The chains that bound them together suddenly began to shake.

Shouts filled the out, and the people around the stake began to run. Their leader looked at his fleeing people, and then turned to follow them. But not before he dropped the branch.

“Harry!” Mel screamed, seeing the fire racing through the grass, drinking up the gasoline all around. Suddenly Mel fell back against the stake, Harry’s back no longer pressed up against hers. The chains fell to her feet, loosened by Harry’s sudden absence. Half a second later he had orbed in front of her, his face frantic. 

“Just orb me out!” She screamed, coughing on the smoke.

Harry shook his head, pointing to the cuffs, the only things keeping her on the stake. “You’re magic resistant -“ And then he broke off into a coughing fit.

Mel bent over at the waist, retching from the smoke. Her nose and eyes were running uncontrollably, whether from fear or grief or smoke, she couldn’t say. 

Harry was desperately trying to get the cuffs off, she could feel his hands on hers, but there was no hope. The fire was on them now, and she was screaming from the heat, screaming and then choking on the smoke -

_Tell Maggie and Macy I love -_

*

“Mel, Mel sweetheart, it’s okay, wake up now.”

She was in her bedroom. Macy was gazing down at her, tears in her eyes. Something cool was on her forehead.

“Mac-“ She tired to speak, but her throat was dry and her voice cracked.

“Shhh.” Macy gently touched her forehead, and Mel realized that it was washcloth, doused with cold water, that was on her head. “Take it easy.”

Mel blinked, looking around. She was in clean clothes and cool sheets, propped up on several pillows.

“Here.” Macy held a glass of water up, and Mel gratefully sipped it. As she did so, she looked around the room, but couldn’t find the person she wanted to see.

“Harry?” she managed, her voice slightly less raspy. 

“He’s in the next room,” Macy said. “He’s safe.”

Mel relaxed, leaning back in the pillows. 

“Maggie’s with him, making sure he’s okay.” Macy smiled, tears still in her eyes. “We’ve been trading off on who watches who.” She gently smoothed the blankets around Mel. “Harry told us everything. How you saved his life. How brave you were.”

“How did we escape?” Mel asked, confused. The last she could remember was the flames and the heat so close it was painful, choking on the smoke, nearly dying before the flames could even reach her…

“He managed to rip the stake out of the ground. He carried you away form the fire, and got your cuffs off.” She smiled sadly. “You two gave Maggie and I a heart attack. You guys left for a training session and three hours later Harry teleports into the living room carrying you, both of you smelling like a bonfire. Harry healed you and then passed out onto the floor.”

“I’m healed?” It didn’t feel like it.

“Of anything life threatening. Harry was in pretty bad shape when he got you two home, so all he could do was stop anything serious.” 

“Is he okay?” Mel tried to sit up, wanting to see him, but all she could do was push herself up by an inch.

Macy nodded, but she looked hesitant. “He’s been trying to heal you of all the damage from the fire, but it’s been slow going. I’m not entirely sure how Whitelighter physiology works, but from what he’s told us his body is instinctively trying to use his healing powers to repair the damage he incurred from the fire. He’s trying to share some of it with you, but he’s so weak his body isn’t giving a lot of it up. Not to mention giving up some of his healing power to restore you is slowing down his own healing process. Every time he manages to heal you a little more, he’s completely out of it. All he’s been doing for the past few days is sleeping and healing.”

Mel tried to sit up again. “I need to see him.”

“Ask and it shall be granted -“ Harry stood in the doorway. He looked exhausted and haggard, leaning against the doorframe. Maggie stood next to him, ready to catch him if he fell, which looked like a distinct possibility.

“Harry!” Macy flicked her wrist, and a chair slid over to him. “You’re supposed to be resting.”

Harry ignored the chair and began to stumble over to Mel’s bed. It was only a few seconds, but the action looked like it exhausted him. 

“You’re literally about to pass out.” Maggie said from behind him.

Harry finally collapsed into a chair by the bed, slumping down into the cushions. “Are you alright, Mel?”

“I’m fine,” Mel leaned back in the bed, already tired by the short interaction. Now that she could see that Harry was safe, she felt ready to sleep for a week. “Thank you for getting me out of the fire.”

“We’d both be there if you hadn’t unlocked the cuffs,” Harry said. “You were amazing.”

Mel smiled, and her eyes began to droop. She opened them again when a light shone through her closed eyes. “I don’t need to be healed.”

“Your healing process will be sped up -“

“And you’ll be even more exhausted. Which I’m not sure is really possible,” Mel said, looking at the pale and tired Harry. “If you rest, then you can heal me even faster.”

“But -“

“You’re not going to win this fight,” Mel said. 

Harry’s mouth twitched, as he held back a smile. “When do I ever, with you?” He settled into the chair, sighing and closing his eyes. 

“When I meant sleeping, I meant in a bed,” Mel said.

Harry shook his head. “If it’s alright with you, I’ll take a quick nap here and then I can heal you in a bit.”

Mel opened her mouth to argue, but stopped when she realized that it did make her feel better to have Harry there. After the near burning, it was a relief to see him and realize that he was safe. She wondered if he felt the same way about being near her.

Maggie threw a blanket over Harry, and she and Macy settled down into chairs as well.

Together, and safe, the Veras and their Whitelighter settled down to sleep.


	3. Saved From Alastair Caine

“Macy!”

Macy groaned, turning her head into her pillow. Her eyes fluttered and then she tried to drop back into sleep -

“Macy!”

Macy groaned again. She just wanted to sleep. Was that so bad?

Why was she so tired? Had she and her sisters been fighting another demon? She reached back through her memories, to what was the last thing she could remember -

She and Harry had been having tea, and then she remembered her muscles going loose and her brain foggy… She remembered Harry reaching for her, but he collapsed to the carpet before he could touch her -

Harry. Harry had collapsed. Was he hurt? She tried to focus her thoughts, but her head was fuzzy.

She tried to sit up, but found that she couldn’t move. She forced her eyes open to see a plain white ceiling. She looked down at her hands, and saw that she was strapped to a bed. _I should be more alarmed about this,_ she thought idly. But it was hard, like she was coming out of the deepest sleep she had ever had…

“Get away from her!” To her right, Macy could hear the sounds of a struggle. She tried to turn her head in that direction, but her attention was diverted when she felt someone pinch her arm. She frowned, looking down only to find a needle, not fingers, in her arm. But she was only disturbed for a second, and then her eyes started to get heavy…

“That’s right, just another little nap…”

The sounds of struggling continued, and Macy forced her eyes to stay open. She used all her strength and managed to turn her head to the right.

A few feet away, Harry was also strapped to a bed. He was frantically pulling at the straps, looking at her with fear in his eyes.

“Harry?” For the first time, worry emerged. Harry looked scared. In her sluggish mind, all she could think was that she didn’t want him to be scared.

“Let Macy go,” Harry said, looking at someone over her shoulder. “She’s drugged, she won’t remember this. You can have me, just leave her alone.”

Macy heard a scoff, and her eyes focused on a man standing at Harry’s bedside. He was blonde, and smirking at Harry’s panic.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, patting Harry on the shoulder. “I’ll personally take very good care of her.”

Harry jerked up, rising as far as the straps would allow him. Several words that the normally proper Harry would never say exited his mouth as he glared at the blonde man.

“Give him another sedative,” said the voice to her left.

“Don’t need it.” And with a movement so fast she nearly missed it, the man slammed his fist into Harry’s temple. Harry fell still and limp, his eyes shutting.

“Harry!” She tried to raise herself, but now sleep was pulling at her. She actively fought against it now, but she was losing fast. She tried to tug at the straps, but she could barely twitch her hand. Frustrated, she felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

“And now you’ve upset her.”

She blinked, trying to wake herself up more, but with each blink her eyes got heavier, until eventually she couldn’t open them anymore.

“Harry?” She wasn’t sure if she had actually said his name, or just thought it as she sank down into darkness. 

*

Macy woke a second time to someone calling her name.

“Macy…Macy, wake up…”

For a second, Macy tried to ignore the voice and drop back down into sleep. And then she remembered Harry struggling, and starring at her with fear, and her eyes shot open. She turned her head to the right, hoping to see Harry.

Instead, Alastair Caine was standing next to her, holding a syringe.

Macy felt fear shoot through her. She tried to scramble away, to move off the bed, out of the room, out of the building, but couldn’t. When she tried to move her limbs, something jerked against them. She looked down to see that she was strapped to a bed. Signs were inscribed on the straps, ones she had never seen before.

“Sigiled against magic,” Caine said, nodding to the straps.

Macy just looked at him, trying to take it all in. Alastair Caine, a millionare, world-renowned scientist…knew about magic. And had kidnapped her. For a second, she tried to process it, and then she remembered why she had woken up in the first place.

“Where’s Harry?”

“Just a few doors down,” Caine said, fiddling with the syringe. He twitched a finger and from the bedside table, a bottle rose into the air, along with cotton swabs. As Alastair continued to talk, Macy watched the bottle open itself and pour small amounts of liquid onto the swabs.

“I know you probably have a lot of questions. Why do I know about magic? Why have I kidnapped you? And so on and so forth.”

Caine took a swab from midair, and wiped it on her arm. Macy realized what he was about to do.

“I’ll answer all those later. And believe me, we’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other.”

He jabbed the syringe into her arm, not bothering to be gentle about it. Blood began to fill the syringe.

“For the moment, let’s just say that you’re helping me make great strides in science. You like that, don’t you? Dr. Wagner says you’re very passionate about your work.”

Macy’s blood ran cold. He had spied on her at work. He had probably had eyes on her as long as Morningstar ran the lab. _How could I have been so stupid -_

“The chance to analyze a witch’s blood is a perfect scientific opportunity -” Alastair’s speech was cut off a sudden crash. Macy’s head spun to the left, hoping she would see Harry there. Instead, a tall blonde man stood in the doorway, the door still swinging from the force of it being opened.

“What happened to you?” Alastair said.

“The Whitelighter.” The man looked sulky. “I took some blood and he slammed his head into me.”

_Good_ , Macy thought. _Serves you right._ It made her feel better to know that Harry was close by and ready to fight.

“Were you antagonizing him?” Alastair asked, not taking his eyes off Macy.

“No.” The blonde took his hand away from his nose, and tossed his hand through the air, sending loose globules of blood onto the walls. “I was just trying to take his blood, and when he wouldn’t stop fighting me, I thought maybe I could make him calm down by reminding him that we had his witch just a few doors away -“

“You were antagonizing him,” Alastair said. The syringe was finally full, and he extracted the needle from Macy’s arm. He gave the pin sized hole in her arm a quick swipe with another floating piece of gauze and then put a bandage over it. He winked at Macy, although there was no warmth in it. “See? No harm done.”

_Except now you have my blood, which was apparently worth kidnapping me for._

“Why do we need a Whitelighter anyway?” the blonde man asked. “Do you really like a Whitelighter’s blood -“

“We need a Whitelighter because we need to test all magical types. And maybe if you hadn’t tried to piss him off, then this wouldn’t be an issue. Next time just get the blood and get out.” Alastair turned to Macy, winking. “They can’t be all so well behaved like Ms. Vaughn here.” And with that he and the blonde man left the room.

Macy’s blood burned in her veins. Well behaved. She’d show them well behaved.

As she took a deep breath, she tested the steps that bound her to the bed. There was no give to them, and within minutes her skin was rubbed raw from trying to wrench herself free. It took less than five minutes to realize that she wasn’t going to be able to break out of the straps.

She tried to move the straps with her mind, but whatever was inscribed on the straps took away her powers entirely.

She took another deep breath, trying to control her rising panic. She could do this, she would find a way out of this. For Harry, and for her sisters.

Macy closed her eyes, trying to think of a plan. She wasn’t sure how much time passed before she heard more footsteps. For a second she debated pretending she was asleep, but as the footsteps drew closer, her eyes flew open. Her head turned to the door before she could stop herself.

Her heart soared when she saw Harry standing in the door.

“Harry!”

“Macy.” Harry rushed over to her.

“Are you okay? How’d you get out?”

“I broke free.” Harry looked her over urgently.“Are you hurt?”

“No. No, I’m fine.”

“Thank God, when I thought of you with those monsters -” Harry put a hand against her face. His thumb stroked her cheek.

“Harry?” Macy tried to move her cheek away, uncomfortable with the touch. It was too new.

“It’s alright,” Harry said, keeping his hand on her cheek. “You’re safe.”

For a second Macy wondered if she was having a blood-loss induced hallucination. But she hadn’t lost that much blood. Still…why wasn’t Harry freeing her? Why weren’t they escaping right now? And in what universe did Harry Greenwood stroke the cheek of an unwilling woman strapped to a bed?

And then it hit her. _This isn't Harry._

It was the shapeshifter. He was working for Alastair.

It all snapped together - the blonde man angry at Harry, holding his bloodied nose. He would have wanted revenge, and the way he could do that was through Macy.

Macy went cold. For a second her brain stalled, and then it kicked into overtime.

“Harry!” She tried to make her voice weak. “I was so worried!”

The shapeshifter smiled down at her. His eyes were cold, nothing like Harry’s warm eyes.

“Did they hurt you?” she asked, widening her eyes.

“No. They tried, but no.”

“Thank God!” she said. _See, see I’ve bought it, see, I’m harmless, nothing to worry about -_

“C’mon, let’s get you out of here.” Just as she had hoped, the shapeshifter began to unbuckle the straps.

She had no clue what this Harry had planned, but it wasn’t escaping. Leading her farther into the building or hurting her, sure. But escaping? No way.

He unbuckled the straps, and Macy slowly sat up in bed. She swung her feet over the bed, and tried to take a step out -

“Oh!” She made her knees go weak, so that the shapeshifter caught her. She looked up and her face was less than an inch from his.

“Thanks.” And then she put her palms against his shoulders and pushed, both with her powers and her hands. He went flying against the wall and slumped down, out cold. His face changed from Harry’s to the shapeshifter’s natural harsh one.

After that it was easy to levitate him into the bed and buckle the straps around him. She found a roll of gauze in a drawer, and shoved it into his mouth. She wasn’t sure how long it would keep him, but it wasn’t as though she planned to stick around.

She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and then walked out of the room, trying to imitate the shapeshifter’s bold strides. She hoped against hope that if anyone saw her, they would think she was the shapeshifter, playing a game with this captives. As she passed into the hallway, full of identical doors, she tried to look confidently around, as though she had passed through this hallway hundreds of times before.

The identical doors contained no indication of what was behind them. Macy strained her ears, but she couldn’t hear anything. Fear ran through her - she couldn’t leave Harry behind, but the longer it took to find him, the sooner they’d be discovered.

_Please, please…_

Then, suddenly, the sound of movement. Soft, but there. Macy walked over to the door the noise was coming from, and quietly opened it a crack.

Harry was strapped to a bed just like she had been. Unlike her, he was continuing to try and force his way out of the straps. She noticed that his shirtsleeves had been rolled up, with a bandage like hers on his right arm. Macy ducked inside and shut the door.

“Harry!”

Harry looked up at her. For a second his face held an amazed smile, and then the smile slid down and turned into a look of hate. Harry had never looked at her like that before; it was such a surprise that Macy involuntary took a step back. Harry spoke, fury in every word.

“If you've hurt Macy, I will -“

Understanding dawn on Macy. She crossed the room quickly and put her hand over his mouth.

“Harry, it’s really me.”

Harry’s eyes narrowed.

Macy’s mind raced, trying to think of how to convince him. “You’re my Whitelighter. We met when you kidnapped me and my sisters. Which, by the way, still isn’t a great idea on how to tell people about magic.” Harry’s eyes lightened, just a bit. “And we went to Galvin’s party together. And afterward, we were in the attic together.” Something only the two of them would know. Something only the two of them had shared. “And you said we were friends.”

Harry’s eyes were beaming now. Macy took her hand away.

“How did you escape?” he asked, as Macy began to free him from the straps.

“It’s a long story, but the short version of it is that the shapeshifter tried to make me think he was you.”

Harry sat up, the joy in his eyes replaced by fear.

“Did he hurt you?”

“No, I tricked him.”

“Thank God.” Harry closed his eyes. “He tried to take my blood. I was fighting him, and he said - Anyway, I lost my temper and injured him.”

“You broke his nose,” Macy grinned. “I saw it.”

Instead of grinning back, Harry went white. “He wasn’t happy. He implied he would take it out on you.”

“He didn’t,” Macy said. Harry still looked at her, fear in his eyes. Macy felt the need to reassure him further. She put her hands on his shoulders, and gave the a gentle squeeze. “I’m fine.”

Harry held her gaze for a second longer, and then it occurred to both of them that they should be trying to escape. Macy withdrew her hands from Harry’s shoulders, and Harry jumped down from the bed.

“Can you orb us out?”

“No.” Harry shook his head. “Now that I’m out of the straps, I can feel most of my powers coming back. But they must have something that keeps me from orbing.”

“Then we’ll have to find our way o- Harry, what happened?” Macy looked down at Harry’s wrists, which were bleeding heavily.

“It’s nothing,” Harry said, rolling down his shirt sleeve to try and cover his wrists. The blood instantly soaked through the white fabric.

“Did you get that from the straps?” Macy said, then felt like kicking herself. Of course he had gotten it from the straps. From trying to break free so he could find her.

“I’ll be fine,” Harry said, moving towards the door. “Nothing a few bandages won’t help, once we get out of here.”

Macy wanted to look closer at the cuts, but she knew there was no time, and anyway, Harry wouldn’t let her until they were out of harm’s way.

They walked quickly through the hallway, sticking close to each other’s sides. The only thing keeping them from breaking into a run was the attention it might attract.

“We need to find a stairwell -” Harry murmured.

A loud, repetitive whine suddenly ripped through the halls.

“…that’s not good,” Macy said, as the siren continued to blare.

As the siren screamed in the background, Macy and Harry threw open doors, all thought of not drawing attention forgotten. 

“In here!” Harry yelled, and Macy had barely turned before Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her through a door.

They stared at the flights of stairs before them, each instantly knowing they wouldn’t make it.

Macy stared at Harry, and squeezed his hand. “I think I have an idea.”

“If it’s the elevator, there’s no way. They’ll have stopped them all already -“

“No, it’s another way. But you’ll need to hang on to me.”

Harry looked down at their intertwined hands.

“More than that,” Macy said, trying hard not to blush. _Not now brain -_ “Put your arms around me.”

Harry wrapped both arms around her waist, and in the stairwell’s dim light, Macy thought she could see him blushing as well.

Macy looked up, gathered her power, and desperately hoped this would work. She took a deep breath, and pushed herself off the ground.

She and Harry rose up past the flights of stairs, through the open area that the stairs twisted around.

They rose and rose, Macy looking for signs indicating that they were getting close to a ground floor. But they still passed signs on each floor indicating sub-basements.

Macy’s ears began to ring, and her muscles clench. She felt as though she had unexpectedly volunteered for a marathon.

“You’re doing well, Macy,” Harry said into her ear. She could feel his breath on her cheek. “It must be up ahead. Just a few more flights.”

Macy pushed herself as hard as she could, but they were rapidly losing speed. She was terrified that if she didn’t set them down soon, her powers would give out completely and they would plummet to the concrete floor, several stories below.

As her entire body began to tremble, Harry spoke. “There!”

Macy followed his gaze to see the a sign on the next floor above, just a few feet away, read “1st Floor”.

She didn’t have any energy left, but she she had to do it. She gritted her teeth, and drawing upon the last of her strength, she raised them the last few feet, and floated them over to the door that would lead to the ground floor. As soon as their feet hit the ground, she stopped using her power. This time it was Harry’s turn to grab her, allowing her to slump into him, her legs trembling from the effort of staying upright. 

“You did beautifully, Macy,” Harry said.

“Can you orb now?” Macy asked, her voice nothing more than a breathless mumble.

“No,” Harry said, looking at her exhausted state. “But I’m sure I can once we’re outside the building.

Below them, Macy suddenly heard doors being thrown open, shouts, boots pounding on steps.

Harry hesitated. “Macy, to escape from here, we need to run.”

“I can’t.” It wasn’t that she was tired or scared. It was just that there was nothing left. She had no more energy. She wanted to leave so badly, but she couldn’t make her feet move. Everything that she had, she had used on their flight up the stairwell.

“I know. I need to - ” The sound of boots got closer. “Please hold on.”

Macy stared at him, trying to catch up. “What -” But then Harry had scooped her up and they were through the stairwell doorway.

They were several feet into the lobby before Macy realized that Harry was carrying her. Her arms had gone around his neck instinctively as he had picked her up, and her mind was finally catching up to what was going on when Harry skidded to a stop.

Alastair Caine was standing in front of them, accompanied by several men. Their uniforms made them seem like security officers, but Macy was positive these were not human officers, but rather demons that Alastair had enlisted in his plan. All of them, she noticed, were aiming guns at them.

Harry backed up a few steps, but Macy heard the sound of boots again. Harry turned slightly, taking Macy with him, and they saw several more officers standing behind them, aiming guns at them.

“Looks like I underestimated you, Ms. Vaughn,” Caine said. He didn’t seem particularly upset at the fact that she had knocked out his shapeshifter and nearly escaped. In fact, he seemed downright amused. “Trust me, it’s not something I’ll be doing again.”

Harry’s grip on her tightened, and for a second there was no sound but Alastair walking slowly towards them. Then Macy was lying on the ground several feet away, her face against the marble. She pushed herself up to see the shapeshifter and Harry struggling. He had snuck up on them.

Macy forced herself to her feet, looking from side to side. On one side Alastair was approaching, on the other side, the shapeshifter had gotten upper hand in the fight against Harry. Several of the security guards had Harry by the arms, holding him in place. Both Alastair and the blonde wore the same smug smile. They had won, and they knew it.

Macy would not let them have her. Not to experiment on, not to use her her gifts against her. Against her sisters. If Alastair knew about her, then he knew about Mel and Maggie, too.

Alastair had already hurt Harry. He would never hurt her family again.

Macy turned her face up to the ceiling. Above was a glass statue of a strand of DNA. It looked as though it was hovering in the air by magic, but Macy knew it was being kept aloft by several well placed wires. She had seen this statue before, during the times her job had required her to come down to this office.

She reached out with her powers. Just moments ago she had felt empty, drained of everything. But thinking of Maggie and Mel, of Harry, trapped with Alastair, hurt and afraid and tormented, brought energy to her. More than that. There was a fullness in her, a peace. Her powers were completely unleashed, unlocked to her, for a brief, shining moment.

The wires snapped.

And the statue fell.

*

Macy had tried to direct the statue’s fall, but the second the wires snapped all of her exhaustion had come rushing back, and her efforts amounted to nothing more than a tap on the glass.

It hit the ground with a crash so loud that it echoed in Macy’s ears. The crash was still echoing as she tried to sit up. She had tried to throw herself out of the way of the statue, but she was so drained that she couldn’t do more than move a few feet.

It was more than Alastair had moved, though. He was lying on the ground, blood all around him. She heard raspy breathing, but he was at least unconscious, with a large section of the statue on him.

“Macy -” She turned at the sound of stumbling footsteps; Harry trying to make his way toward her. On the ground, she could see the blonde man stirring, and knew it wouldn’t be long before he was conscious.

“Are you hurt?” Macy asked. Harry was covered with scratches, all of them bleeding.

Harry shook his head. “Just some scratches. We have to go,” he said. Macy nodded numbly. Together, the two stumbled towards the door, stepping over the moaning forms of guards.

They slipped out the door into the night.

*

“Don’t flinch.”

Macy took a deep breath, trying to steady her arm. Harry gently lowered the tweezers over the largest piece of glass, trying to find the best angle to remove it from. She bit her lip, trying to stare into the fireplace and focus on the flames instead.

Once they had orbed back home, Harry had set Macy in the living room, building up a fire and gathering supplies for removing the glass from her arms. She had tried to convince him that she was fine, that Harry needed more first aid than she did, but he refused to hear of it.

“Will Maggie and Mel be okay?”

“I think so. After the damage you did tonight, I don’t think Alastair Caine will try to kidnap any of the Charmed Ones anytime soon. Even so, I’ve texted your sisters to come home as soon as possible.”

“Good.” Macy sighed, leaning back against the couch. “I don’t want to fight anybody anytime soon. I just want to sleep for about five months.”

“I wouldn’t want to repeat the experience either,” Harry said. He paused, still looking down at the tweezers. “The thought of you with those monsters -“

It was the exact same words that the shapeshifter had used, but these words were different. Softer, kinder. Filled with actual worry.

Macy placed one of her hands over Harry’s.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

Harry looked up at her, and his eyes were warm. He squeezed her hand gently, a soft smile on his face.

“I’m counting on it.”

 


	4. Saved From Demon Possession

“Okay, okay, we can fix this,” Maggie said, pacing the attic. 

“There is nothing to fix,” Harry said. “Once the demon has entered a vessel, nothing but the vessel’s death will make the demon leave.” He winced, and closed his eyes for a few seconds, clearly struggling. 

“Bullshit,” Mel said, flipping through the Book of Shadows. “We got the Harbinger out of Angela -“

“This was different,” Harry said. “This de-“ He lurched forward, bent at the waist. He closed his eyes again, and the sisters could see him struggling to retain control. Eventually his eyes opened, pain in them. There was sweat pouring down his face, and his breathing was strained as if he’d run a mile. “It’s getting stronger,” he said. “I can’t hold it off much longer. It’ll take control soon.” 

“We’ll find a solution,” Macy said, coming up the stairs with bottles of herbs and odd looking liquids. “Something has to work.”

“That’s our thing, right? Fixing stuff at the last minute?”

“Girls, listen to me. This,” Harry nodded to the chair he was chained to, the sigils that had been engraved on the chains’ cuffs, “will not hold the demon back. You need to kill me, and then once I’m dead, you need to kill the demon -“

“We are NOT killing you,” Macy said firmly, with Mel just glared at him with a “Don’t be stupid” expression on her face. Maggie looked horrified, her hand pressed to her mouth.

“Once the demon takes control, it’ll have all my abilities and memories. It will use every weapon in its arsenal to kill you -“

“So you want us to kill you so you won’t kill us? No way,” Maggie said. “Number 1, we’re not killing you. Number 2, you won’t kill us -“

“It will not be me. The demon will have my form, but -“ Harry bent over again, panting. When he looked up, his eyes were desperate. “It’s coming. I’m so sorry; I can’t stop it. Please, you need to -“ And then he was flung forward in the chair, his head snapping to his chest. His face contorted for several seconds - his last, painful attempts to fight. When he raised his head again, the sisters drew back. From the look on his face, it was clear that this was no longer Harry. 

The demon looked around at them, carefully analyzing them. Harry’s mouth was turned up in a smirk; his eyes sharp and cold. It was a shock, seeing Harry’s normally kind and composed features looking cruel and smug. 

“The Charmed Ones,” the demon said. 

Instinctively, Mel, Macy, and Maggie all clustered closer together. Mel raised the Book of Shadows, as though ready to whack the demon with it. 

“Give us back our Whitelighter,” Mel said. 

The demon leaned back in the chair, seemingly unconcerned about the fact he was chained to the chair, sigils glowing around the cuffs of the chains. 

“Like your Whitelighter has already told you, I cannot be turned out.” The demon raised one eyebrow. “Unless you want to kill your Whitelighter?” When the girls said nothing, the demon smirked. “I didn’t think so. You’re very fond of this ‘Lighter, and he’s fond of you too. Living in his mind after I kill you three will be fun. Despair, guilt, horror, madness…such fun.” 

“Harry’s still in there?” Macy said.

“The host still remains, although they’re not strong enough to do anything.” The demon grinned. “They just get to watch.” 

“Oh God,” Macy murmured. She and Mel stood there, unsure of what to do. Suddenly, she was pushed to the side, and Maggie was striding forward, a determined look on her face. 

“Maggie!” Mel grabbed her hand, holding her back. 

“Harry’s still in there. I can read minds. Maybe I can reach him,” she said, looking back at her sister.

A soft chuckle reached their ears, and they all turned back to look at the demon. “Go right ahead. I’m quite interested to see what will happen.” 

“This could be a trap,” Mel hissed to Maggie. “What if you get close and he grabs you?” 

“If he wanted to, he could grab us anyway.” Maggie looked at her sisters, eyes wide and tearful. “Let me try.” 

Mel and Macy looked at each, hesitating.

“Don’t you want to save Harry?” Maggie asked. Mel’s hand dropped away, and Macy nodded.

“We’ll be right here,” Macy said, raising her voice so the demon could hear her. 

“I quake in my boots,” the demon said. “I’m not sure why you’re so worried. These chains will hold me back…at least for another ten minutes.” 

Maggie screwed her hands up into fists and walked towards the demon. Her nails dug into her skin, and she tried to keep her hands from shaking. When she was next to the demon, she uncurled one of her hands. She stretched a hand out, and her fingertips touched Harry’s forehead. 

In an instant she was engulfed in feelings of pain and horror.

She screamed, feeling all the emotions the demon fed off of, rejoiced in. 

“Maggie!” 

When she opened her eyes, she was in Macy’s and Mel’s arms. 

“Seems like your sister expected to only peek into your Whitelighter’s mind, not mine as well.” 

Mel glared at him while Macy helped Maggie to stand. 

“It’s okay Maggie, we’ll find a different way,” she said gently.

“No, I can do this.” Maggie shook her shoulders and rolled her head, as though stretching out before a gym session. “I just have to get past his mind and find Harry’s.” 

“Maggie -” Mel said, grabbing her hand. 

“One more time.” Maggie looked from Mel to Macy. “Let me try again.” 

There was a tense moment, and then Mel let go of Maggie’s hand and Macy took a step back.

“One more time,” Macy said.

Maggie moved again towards the demon, hand outstretched. It stared at her eagerly, smugly. 

She took a deep breath, and the tips of her fingers touched Harry’s head.

*

The fear and terror crashed down on her, trying to pull her under and drown her. Maggie clenched her teeth and pushed her way through it, trying to move past the horror. 

Harry. She needed to find him. She needed to push through for Harry. 

She kept going, kept moving as the waves of emotion kept coming, kept trying to defeat her. Instead, she focused on Harry, how much he needed her, how horrified he would be if he hurt her or her sisters, how he’d never forgive himself, ever, if anything happened to them because of the demon in his body. He’d blame himself, go slowly mad at how his inability to stop the demon, at being unable to protect her and her sisters. 

The idea of rescuing Harry from that hell, of returning him to them safe and sound, shaken but ready to recover with a cup of tea, kept her going. Then suddenly she was through the ocean of pain, and falling through a door.

She fell into a room, slamming into the carpet. She pushed herself up on her elbows, trying to catch her breath, and not think about the horror, the pain she had just experienced. A slam echoed behind her. 

She looked behind her, and was alarmed to see that the door had slammed shut. She pushed herself up, stumbling to her feet.

Maggie looked around, curious. Despite the pressure and the horror, she couldn’t help but be a little interested. She was inside Harry’s mind, which…looked like a really large library.

Of course Harry’s mind would be a library. 

Despite the immense size of the library, it looked warm and homey. The shelves were a warm, dark wood, with plush red carpet. Maggie wandered through the shelves until she came to a large fireplace that glowed warmly. Several large leather armchairs surrounded the fireplace, and Maggie wandered over to them, wondering if maybe Harry was nearby. She looked around, but couldn’t find any sign of him. She sank down into one of the chairs, warming herself before the fire. She’d rest just a minute before she restarted her search. The fire warmed her instantly. 

In front of the fire, it was easy to have the stress and horror of traveling through the demon’s mind melt away. Maggie sank into the armchair, relaxing. 

It was nice while it lasted, which was only a few seconds. Maggie had just curled up in the armchair, when a loud banging echoed through the library. She jolted up, thinking of the demon. 

Carefully, she stood up and began to creep through the shelves, towards the banging sound. As she walked through the selves, she noticed that each book bore a special title, each sounding like a memory: Fiona, Whitelighter Training, Hilltowne Directions, etc.

As she got deeper into the shelves, she noticed that some of the books began to look burned. As Maggie examined the burned volumes, she realized that these must be the memories that the Elders had taken from Harry. 

As she got closer to the banging, she saw three books, each sitting on a separate pedestal. She walked toward them, noting the special condition of each book. As she walked up to them, she noticed with shock that one had her name on it. 

Margarita “Maggie” Vera was written on the cover in gold script. Maggie picked up the book, which had a cover of plum leather. She saw that the edges of the pages were lined with gold. 

Maggie realized that she was holding all of Harry’s thoughts about her. Her hands itched to open the book. Still, her conscience prevented her from doing so. This wasn’t brushing someone’s hand or shoulder and reading a passing thought, this was consciously pouring through Harry’s private thoughts. It would be a massive violation of trust and privacy. Maggie sighed, putting the book down. She knew she was making the right decision, but her curiosity was desperately trying to change her mind. To distract herself, she turned to the two other books. They were similar, with leather covers, and names and page edges etched in gold. One had a navy blue cover, and the other had a jade green. Harry’s thoughts on Mel and Macy. 

Maggie gently picked up Macy’s book, noticing that the gold print on Macy’s volume sparkled just a little brighter than her and Mel’s. Maggie raised an eyebrow, filing that away to think about for later. It was only then that she realized she was so caught up in her thoughts, that she hadn’t noticed that the banging sound had stopped. 

“Get away from them!” A figure ran out from the stacks of books at her. 

Maggie screamed, raising Macy’s book above her head, ready to use it as a weapon. Her attacker ran towards her, then stopped, looking confused. “Maggie?” 

“Harry!” Maggie put Macy’s book back on her pedestal, and then ran towards him, throwing her arms around him in a hug. 

“Maggie.” Harry returned the hug, his arms tight around her. Then stopped, and held her at arm’s length so he could fix her with his sternest look. “Would you care to tell me why you and your sisters have not killed the demon yet, and why you made the absolutely insane decision to try to find me?” 

“We think you can be saved.” 

“Are you insane?” Harry asked. “Every second you delay is another second you could be in danger.” 

“But you’re in danger already!” 

“Maggie, I am your Whitelighter. I am duty-bound to protect you and your sisters, even if it means my death.” 

“You’re not just our Whitelighter, you’re our family!” Maggie said.

Harry stared, and Maggie was surprised to see moisture gathering in his eyes. When he spoke again, his voice was thick. “That is very touching, and I am honored that you consider me family. But your life is in danger, and you need to kill the demon -”

“No.” Maggie crossed her arms. 

“Maggie -”

“I don’t care. And if you think I’m going to change my mind on this, then you don’t know me. When I was a kid and wanting something, I would hold my breath until I turned blue and nearly passed out.” 

“I’m well aware that stubbornness is one of your key traits - it seems to be your whole family’s key trait, but -” 

“No.”

“I - I don’t -” 

Harry’s stammering protests were cut off by a crash. He frowned, going to stand in front of Maggie. 

“What’s that?” Maggie asked, peering around him.

“I’m not sure.” Harry frowned, then looked at her. “If I tell you to stay here, you’ll just end up following me, won’t you?”

“Yep.”

Harry sighed. “Then let’s go.” They set off through the stacks of books. “At least this way I’ll know where you are.” 

“So you weren’t the one originally making all those banging sounds?” Maggie asked.

“No, that was me,” Harry said. They broke through the stacks to see the door that Maggie had originally entered through. It looked like someone had tried to kick it open several times. 

“This,” Harry waved a hand at the library, “is a representation of my mind. It’s been locked away by the demon controlling me.” He nodded his head towards the door. “I hoped if I could break out of here, then I could regain control of myself.” He shook his head. “Honestly, I didn’t even know a way out existed, until I heard this door slamming shut.” 

“That was me!” Maggie said excitedly. “See, I’m already helping,” she added smugly.

Harry’s lips twitched, as though he was holding back a smile, and instead he just said, “I found the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. Then I started trying to break it open, but I heard someone walking around in here -” 

“And found me,” Maggie finished. 

“Okay, but if you were making those sounds, then who is making -” another crash reached their ears and the door began to lean inward, “that?” 

Harry took a step backward, drawing Maggie with him. “Probably the demon. My guess is that while I’m unable to break out of here, the demon is struggling to get in, as the remains of my mind are trying to protect me.” He looked back at Maggie. “When I first saw someone standing over by the books of you and your sisters, I feared it was the demon, trying to destroy my memories of you three.” 

Another loud crash brought their attention back to the door. Harry continued walking backward, Maggie behind him. Another crash, and the door began to splint in two. 

“That’s not good.” 

One last crash, and the pieces of the door flew at them. Harry grabbed Maggie, dragging them both to the ground. Behind her, Maggie could hear crashing as pieces of wood hit shelves. 

For several seconds she laid on the floor, her eyes down as she coughed from the dust drifting everywhere. Then she looked up to see the demon standing in the doorway. 

Before he had possessed Harry, the demon had had sallow, fire red skin, red eyes, claws, and fangs. Now he still had some of those traits, but he looked like a warped version of Harry. It was Harry’s face, but with a cruel smirk, red running up his neck like a rash, its eyes shifting from red to green with each turn of his head. 

“Wow,” Maggie said. “Harry, you’re ugly as a demon.” 

The real Harry pushed out an arm between Maggie and the demon, instinctively bracing to throw himself into battle if needed.

“Priorities, Maggie, please.”

“No, I mean, you’re just really, really ugly.” 

The demon turned to her, his smirk growing wider. 

“This has been a fun experiment, but it’s time for you to go now,” the demon said. 

“Sounds good to me,” Maggie said. “You want to leave together?”

The demon shook his head. “I like this mind.” he looked down at his new form: Harry’s corrupted image. “I like this body. It’s strong. All the damage I could do with it…” he smirked at Maggie, and took a step forward.

Harry ran at the demon, fury in his face. For a minute, the two grappled with one another, their near identical faces screwed up in pain and concentration. Maggie watched, wanting to help, but unsure how to get in the middle of the fight. Then the demon won, grabbing Harry and flinging him against the wall. He grabbed at Harry’s throat, slamming his head against the wall. As the Whitelighter struggled to stay conscious, the demon suddenly turned and tossed Harry at Maggie. She grabbed him, the two of them collapsing in a heap. 

Maggie helped Harry sit up against a shelf. He seemed dazed, but otherwise fine. Maggie looked around, afraid the demon would attack again, but he was gone. 

For a second, she was confused. The demon had clearly been wining, why would he leave the fight? 

Then it hit Maggie. 

“He’s going for the books!” she screamed, launching herself into the stacks. She ran through the shelves, desperately trying to navigate the maze of books.

She heard Harry yelling that it wasn’t safe, to wait for him to catch up, but she couldn’t. The Elders had already taken away all of Harry’s human memories, she wouldn’t let a demon take away his Whitelighter ones. 

There were thousands of millions of memories the demon could choose to get rid of, but Maggie knew instinctively which ones he would go for first. 

When she got to the fireplace, the demon was already standing there, the three volumes of the Vera sisters in his hands. He looked at Maggie and then down at the books.

“Which should I get rid of first?” he said, pretending to analyze the books. He looked up at Maggie again. “Or maybe you’d like to hear all the things your Whitelighter secretly thinks about you three?” He opened Macy’s volume, tucking the other two under his arm. 

“Hmmmm…Chapter 1: History, Chapter 2: Likes and Dislikes, Chapter 3: Appearance…ooohh…” He ruffled through the book, apparently absorbed in it. But when Maggie took a step forward, he moved even closer to the fire, making her freeze in place. She cursed her powers - why couldn’t she make time stop like Mel or make the books fly out of his hands like Macy? 

“Did you know that your Whitelighter has compared your sister’s eyes to ‘a green spring, warm and’ - ” 

Harry suddenly appeared from a shelf, pile-driving the demon to the floor. Macy’s volume flew out of his hands, the other two books skidding away as well.

“Get the books!” Harry yelled, his face bright red.

Maggie stood there for a second, still trying to absorb the fact that her Whitelighter had been spending his free time comparing her sister’s eyes to spring, and then snapped out of it, and ran for the books. She scooped them up into her arms.

“Got them!” she called, turning around triumphantly, only to find herself face to face with the demon. He grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up into the air. Behind him Maggie could see Harry lying unconscious on the floor. 

Maggie dropped the books, her hands desperately trying to pry him away from her throat. She kicked, feeling her movements getting weaker and weaker as her lungs struggled for air. 

“I’m not going to burn all of it, you know,” he said to her, as she rasped for breath. “Just going to rip out pages here and there, some fond memories, a random fact or two - just enough to create a few gaps in memory, while making him able to remember you enough to feel the guilt for harboring the being who killed you, a nice recipe for madness.”

“I wonder what happens if I kill you in here -” The demon said, his red eyes burning in Harry’s face. He reached down with his free hand and casually picked up Maggie’s book. “If you” he shook Maggie, “are actually just your mind, then by killing you your mind will die, and then so will your actual body.” 

Maggie’s eyes shot open at his words. Understanding fell into place, and she didn’t realize how she couldn’t have seen it before. She used the last bit of her energy to focus on the bookshelf behind the demon. Slowly, it swayed once, as though in a heavy wind, and then began to fall, books raining down from it. The demon turned around just as the shelf fell on him, causing him to release her.

Maggie fell to the ground, wheezing, massaging her throat. 

“You really shouldn’t have talked so much,” Maggie said, rising to her feet. “You know what I realized? “This…” she waved her hands around the library, “might look and feel real, but it’s all an illusion. An illusion meant to rationalize that we’re in the mind.” 

And I also realized that I’m an empath. Which means I have power over the mind.” Maggie grinned. “Which means I can do anything I fucking want here.” Then she paused and turned to Harry. “Not that I would do anything other than kick this demon’s ass, Harry.” 

“Thank you?” Harry said, staggering to his feet. From the confused look on his face as he looked around, he must have just regained consciousness. 

The fallen bookshelf suddenly went flying, smacking into the shelf behind it and causing shelves to start toppling like dominos. The demon staggered to its feet in front of Maggie, fury making its eyes an even brighter shade of red. 

“It’s very rude to push yourself into someone’s mind uninvited, and then to make a mess,” Maggie said. She raised a hand, and instantly the shelves righted themselves, the books flying back to their proper places. Maggie grinned, wondering if this what Macy’s powers felt like.

“Maggie, I know you’re having fun…”, Maggie glanced over her shoulder to see Harry standing there, “but if you could be so kind as to remove this demon from my mind?” 

“Right,” Maggie said. She turned to the demon, her eyes narrowing. Then she turned away, walking towards the door. When the demon tried to follow her, she made another shelf fall onto him.

“Maggie?” Harry asked, following behind her.

“Trust me, Har.” 

When she got to the broken door, she glanced out. There was nothing out there, nothing but an all-consuming darkness, filled with hate and fear and pain. Gently, Maggie touched the walls of the library, and they crumbled away. The light from the library streamed out, gold meeting black. As the darkness receded, the light revealed that the previously hidden sections of the mind were more library. 

“There,” Maggie said, turning back to Harry. “Your mind is yours again.” 

Harry turned to Maggie, his face suffused in the gold light. “Thank you, Maggie.” 

They stood in the gold light for awhile, enjoying the peaceful moment.

Suddenly, a bloodthirsty scream came from behind them. They turned to see the demon running at them. Maggie waved a hand, and the golden light began to swirl around him, engulfing him. After a second, the light faded, and the demon was gone. 

“Well, I suspect that’s our cue to go too,” Harry said. He smiled. “See you on the other side.”

Then the light surrounded them. 

*

Maggie’s eyes fluttered open, and a second later, shouts reached her ears.

“Maggie!” Someone flung themselves at her, and for a second she couldn’t take a breath, she was being hugged so tightly.

“Mel,” she rasped, patting her sister’s back, “Mel I can’t breathe.” 

The second Mel pulled away, Macy was hugging Maggie, although less tightly. When she finally stopped, Maggie looked for Harry.

He was stirring in his chair, with Mel kneeling next to him. She looked at Maggie worried, and Maggie nodded. “He’s okay. I got the demon out.” 

“We know,” Macy said, nodding to something behind Maggie.

Maggie looked around, and felt her heart nearly stop. A large, greasy black stain was all over the floor. 

“After you kicked the demon out, Mel and I took care of him,” Macy said. “You must have kicked the crap out of him - we barely had to fight him before we vanquished him.” 

“Shame,” said a voice to Maggie’s right, and she turned to see Jada, leaning against the wall. “I was kind of hoping for a fight.” 

Maggie raised a hand in a weak wave. She hadn’t seen much of Jada since she had stole the scythe to open Tartarus, but Mel had been talking constantly about her. It was mostly about her missions with the Sarcana, but lately Mel’s conversations about her had taken on a new, admiring tone, and Maggie suspected she had a crush. 

Her attention was distracted by a groan. Harry’s eyes had opened, and he was looking around the attic in a daze. At his side, Mel gently touched the chains around his wrists, muttering a spell under her breath. The chains dropped away, and Harry stood up, stumbling over to Maggie.

“Are you alright?” he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Maggie nodded. “I feel kind of great, actually. Powerful.”   
“Well, that’s nice,” Harry said, giving a tired laugh. “I feel -“ Then he stopped, noticing Jada for the first time. He instantly stood up, starting towards her, but Mel jumped into his path. 

“Jada came here to help us,” she said. 

“Really?” Harry said, his eyes narrowed. “And how did she know we needed help?” 

“I called her,” Mel said. “You weren’t waking up, and Maggie wasn’t waking up, and I thought Jada might be able to help.” She swallowed, and Maggie suddenly realized that Mel’s hands were trembling. 

“We were terrified,” Macy said, her voice strained. 

Maggie thought of how it must have felt, to sit and watch and wait as she and Harry remained still and lifeless.

“You could have called the Elders…” Harry said.   
“Charity tried to convince us to kill a possessed Angela. What if Charity said that you weren’t worth saving?”

Harry sighed, and Maggie could feel the tension in the room, everyone wondering if Jada’s appearance would cause an argument. Finally, Harry pushed himself to his feet. 

“I’m going to go make tea,” he said. “I’ll bring some up in a bit.” 

Jada watched him walk down the attic stairs, and then turned to Maggie and her sisters.

“You know that the Elders never would have let you die,” she said to Maggie. “You’re one of the Charmed Ones. You’re too valuable to lose.”

“But they might have killed Harry to save me. Or killed Harry to destroy the demon,” she added. 

Jada just looked at them, as though analyzing them.

“What?” Maggie asked, too tired to guess at what she might be thinking. 

“Witches…don’t always treat Whitelighters like they’re people. To some, including the Elders, Whitelighters are pawns. In their mind, a Whitelighter’s life has already been lived, so if they are hurt or killed, it isn’t really a true death. Just a continuation of the death they had before the Elders intervened.” 

“Well that’s stupid,” Maggie said. 

Jada slowly nodded. “I very much agree. And I’m glad that you do too.” Blue light began to swirl around her, and then she was gone. 

Maggie turned to Mel. “Listen, you have a crush on her, I get it, but if you want to date her she has to stop being so cryptic.” 

Mel turned red while Macy chuckled.

There was the sound of footsteps, and Harry entered the attic, holding a tea tray and four cups. He looked around. “Jada’s gone?” The relief was badly hidden in his voice. 

“Yes,” Mel said. She eyed Harry as he put the tea tray on the table and began handing out the cups. “You know, she was trying to help save your life. And Maggie’s.” 

“And while I am grateful for that, I don’t trust her underlying motives,” Harry said. He paused, and Maggie could tell that he was trying to see whether to push the subject. Then he shook his head, and let it go by saying, “And anyway, Maggie was the true hero of the day.” 

“To Maggie,” Macy said, holding up her tea cup. Mel and Harry followed suit.

Maggie blushed, trying (and failing) to not look too pleased. 

“So how did you defeat the demon?” 

“Kicked his ass, and chased him right out of Harry’s mind,” Maggie said.

Mel gave Harry a mischievous smile. “So what’s the inside of your mind look like? Are there posters with all the Whitelighter rules and shrines to the Elders?” 

Harry snorted while Macy giggled.

“I’ll at least say that there are no shrines to the Elders in there,” Harry said. 

“Really?” Mel said. 

“Yes.”

“So there are posters - ”

“Melanie -”

Maggie closed her eyes as her sister and Whitelighter playfully bickered, with Macy chuckling in the background from time to time. She happily sighed, listening to her family’s voices and relaxing in contentment.


	5. Saved From Charity

“Are they ever coming down?” Mel asked. She fiddled with her napkin, balling it up between her hands. 

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Macy said. Despite the fact that she sounded calm, Mel knew her sister was as agitated as she was. Macy was was making her fourth batch of pancakes, despite the fact that everyone had stopped eating after the second batch. She always baked when she was worried. 

Charity had arrived at the Vera household, surprising everyone in the middle of breakfast. She had asked to speak to Harry alone, and the grim look on her face had told everyone it wasn’t a social call. They had been in the attic for over an hour, making Mel nervous. Ever since Mel had joined the Sarcana, she had trusted the Elders less and less. Jada’s words about Whitelighters meaning nothing to the Elders had been echoing in her head ever since Mel had first heard them. 

“Maybe we should go check on them?” Maggie said. “Bring tea or something.” 

Mel was fairly sure that if they interrupted an important Elder/Whitelighter conversation for tea, Charity would be irritated beyond belief. 

Mel loved the idea. 

Macy turned off the stove. “Maybe we should just go up and ask if they want tea first.” She eyed her sisters meaningfully. “So we don’t interrupt their conversation with all the noise from a tea set, only to find out they don’t want anything.” 

The Veras crept up the attic stairs, stopping when they got to the top. They carefully peered around it, ready to duck out of sight if necessary. 

Harry was staring out of the attic window, arms crossed. Charity stood in the center of the room, arms also crossed, clearly wishing Harry would look at her. You could practically see the irritation swirling between them. 

Finally, Charity spoke.

“Your loyalty is supposed to be with the Elders, not with them.” 

“It should not have to be one or the other. The Elders were the ones who taught me about loyalty to my charges.” 

“Sometime witches don’t know what’s best. And when that happens, Whitelighters and Elders are there to step in,” Charity’s voice was cold. 

“The Veras are stronger than you know. They can handle -”

“Their strength is not in question here, it is a matter of judgement. They are severely lacking in it, especially Mel.”

“I would trust Melanie with my life.” Mel’s heart swelled with pride and happiness. 

Charity looked at him incredulously. “She has been corrupted by the Sarcana, and is a danger.”

“Mel would never hurt the people she loves.”

There was a long pause.

“And you think that includes you?” 

Harry suddenly sounded bashful. “I meant her sisters -“

“No, you didn’t.” Charity’s voice was soft now, but more dangerous than ever. 

Harry tried to sound more confident. “She has proven her loyalty to -”

“You are their Whitelighter, not a member of their family! She is your charge, not a little sister!” For several minutes, the attic was silent. 

Then there was the sound of footsteps. Harry was walking towards the attic stairs.

“And if you tell them what we did, you won’t even be that.”

At Charity’s words, Harry stopped walking towards the door. 

“You won’t be their Whitelighter anymore, and it won’t be because the Elders will take you away. It’ll be because the girls won’t ever want to see you again.” 

Charity put a hand on his shoulder, her voice soft. Since anger hadn’t worked, she was trying to convince him with soft words.

“I don’t how how they feel about you, but you love those girls, I know you do. If you do this now, you’ll lose them.”

There was a long pause. Harry’s hands clenched into fists at his side.

“I’m telling them, Charity.” Harry turned and walked away from her. The sisters crowded back, instinctively getting ready to move down the stairs before Harry reached them. But as he got close, a rope, crackling with purple energy, wrapped around his wrist. 

“No, you’re not.” Charity’s voice was steely, but the look on her face was sad. Harry turned back to her, surprised, and she slashed her hand through the air. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. His face went blank with shock, as though unable to believe she would do this. Mel, on the other hand, could believe it. 

Charity gave a tremendous pull, and Harry fell towards her. His body whipped and disappeared in a curl of energy, and then reappeared. The pattern repeated as Harry desperately tried to orb out of her grip, but the rope kept him from going anywhere. Mel had the disturbing image of an animal caught in a trap, frantically trying to escape. 

Harry changed tactics and lunged towards her, trying to fight her off, but she conjured a second rope and threw it out, its aim magically perfect. It wrapped itself tightly around his throat, and Harry began to claw at it. Within seconds, he was sinking to his knees, his chest heaving as he tried to get any air in. 

Tears were running down Charity’s face as she approached him. “You’ve violated your purpose as a Whitelighter by going against the Elders’ express orders. You’ll be taken to Athene to await trial and sentencing.” Harry turned to her, his lips moving, although no sound came out. Charity must have understood what was he asking, though.

“I’ll tell the girls you’ve been reassigned. Urgent mission, had to be done. You wanted to go immediately, no long goodbyes.” She drew in a shaky breath, clearly holding back sobs. “I’ll make sure they’re well protected.” She raised a hand, and purple energy began to swirl in it, a small portal beginning to grow larger. 

Suddenly Charity was thrown off her feet, flying back through the attic and crashing into the wall. The portal vanished, and the ropes around Harry disappeared. 

“You’re not taking him anywhere.” 

Charity and Harry both turned as Mel vaulted up the stairs, Macy and Maggie close behind her. Mel raised a hand, ready to use her magic if needed. She could feel Macy behind her, her powers still strong even after the attack on Charity. Out of the corner of her eye, Mel saw Maggie break off from the group and run to Harry, who was lying on the ground. 

“Girls -” Charity’s eyes darted everywhere, this time looking like the one who was the trapped animal. “Girls, you don’t understand -”

“You tried to kidnap our Whitelighter,” Macy said. 

“And then lie about why he was gone,” Maggie added. 

“Jada was right about you,” Mel said, fury rising in her. “You don’t give a fuck about Whitelighters at all, do you? They’re just your foot soldiers, and they don’t get any rights or opinions outside of yours.” 

Charity’s eyes went hard. “You have no idea -“ She began to stand up, but was pushed down again. At Mel’s side, Macy’s hand was raised, her magic directed at Charity. 

“Give Harry his voice back,” she said. 

Charity’s eyes darted between all three women, and finally she went limp with defeat. “Fine.” She slashed her hand through the air, and rested against the wall of the attic, not resisting Macy’s powers anymore. She glared at them. “You have no idea,” she said again. “No idea what Harry means to me. How much it killed me to do this. Because I was trying to protect you,” she snarled, looking directly into Mel’s eyes. 

“You weren’t trying to protect the girls,” Harry walked over to stand next to Mel and Macy, Maggie helping him. Charity’s attack on him hadn’t seemed to hurt him, except for making his voice slightly raspy, due to the bruising at his throat. “Thank you, ladies,” he said, nodding at the Veras. Then he turned back to Charity. “You were attempting to protect the Elders.” 

“I was attempting to protect all of you!” Charity said, lunging forward again. “You heard her,” she nodded at Mel. “She’s already repeating all of Jada’s mantras. Give her a few more days and she’ll be a fully converted Sarcana member. I was attempting to protect you from that life,” she said, turning her attention to Mel. 

“Probably would have done a better job if you hadn’t just confirmed everything they ever told me about Whitelighters and Elders.” Mel said. 

Charity just shook her head sadly. “Go on then, tell them,” she said, staring at Harry. “Tell them what’s going on, and what we did, and see if they still want to stand by you.” 

Harry stared at her, and the two seemed to be having a silent conversation. Finally, Harry looked away, turning toward the Veras.

“Charity arrived this morning to tell me that Fiona Callahan was the one brought back from Tartarus by the Sarcana.” 

Mel felt as though her stomach had dropped through the floor. “Jada never mentioned - ” 

Charity snorted. “What a surprise.” 

“She was probably still trying to decide if she could trust you,” Harry said gently. 

“You know the story about Fiona,” he said, nodding to Mel. Mel nodded. “Have you told your sisters?”

Mel nodded again. She still felt too dumbstruck to speak. 

“Then you already know how it begins. Fiona breaking with the Elders, creating the Sarcana, revealing her powers and being institutionalized for it.”

“And killing herself,” Mel said softly.

“No.” Harry looked away from her, staring at the floor. He shook his head. 

“But you said -” Mel stopped. “You said she couldn’t stand it anymore. And I -”

“You assumed it meant suicide.” Harry said. He walked a little bit away from them, his eyes still on the floor, beginning to get caught up in his story. “And I let you think that, because I was too ashamed of the truth.” He looked up, his eyes meeting Mel’s. “And too scared of what you would think of me if you learned it.” 

He took a deep breath.

“Fiona did go to an institution. And there she did receive massive amounts of drugs and therapy that made her question who she was, if magic was real. But while she was questioning her powers, that didn’t make them go away. 

“Fiona was an incredibly powerful witch. And when Fiona became confused and disoriented by the institution, her powers became dangerous. Charity and I got the call one night to come to the institution. The Elders had previously made it clear that no one was to contact Fiona, that she had thrown her lot in with the Sarcana. The Elders had wanted the magical world to see what would happen if someone aligned themselves with the Sarcana.” Harry paused, and then continued in a quieter voice. “By allowing her to go into the institution, an example was made of her.”

Mel felt her chest tightening. She logically had assumed all this, that the Elders hadn’t helped Fiona, had let her be imprisoned in the institution, but having Harry confirm it made it so real…

“When Charity and I arrived at the institution, we found Fiona out of control. The drugs had made her confused and frightened, and she had lashed out. Her powers were beyond her control, she couldn’t constrain them anymore.”

Charity closed her eyes, as though unable to bear what Harry was going to say next. 

“Charity and I tried to stop her, tried to calm her, and when that didn’t work, tried to restrain her powers. When that didn’t work…we fought her.”

“When lucid, Fiona was an immensely powerful, talented witch. But free of caution, of fear, of restraint, she was a force of nature. Unstoppable, though Charity and I tried. But in the end, she overpowered us, easily.”

“Eight doctors and patients had already lost their lives in Fiona’s rampage. If we had let her go on, she could have killed so many more. We needed to stop her - and sending her to Tartarus was the only way. We obtained the Scythe from Athene, the Elders’ base. And we used it.” 

Mel felt her legs go weak.

For several minutes, there was only silence in the attic. 

“You sent her to Tartarus?” Mel finally managed to ask. “She was confused, she was scared, because you had refused to help her,” her voice began to grow louder and louder, “and you sent her to Tartarus?” 

“She was unstoppable,” Charity said. “She would have murdered countless people before anyone could defeat her -”

But Harry simply lowered his head and said, “Yes.” 

Mel stumbled backwards. 

“And are you going to do that to us?” she asked. 

Harry’s head shot up. 

“If we don’t obey the Elders, if we don’t listen, are you just going to leave us to whatever punishment the Elders think is okay? Would you let us be drugged and hurt and then push us into hell?” 

“Never,” Harry said, his voice urgent. “I regret every single day for what happened to Fiona, and the part I played in it -” He reached out for Mel, who stumbled backwards. She felt a hand on her arm steadying her, leading her backwards, and turned to see Macy, who was staring at Harry, thunderstruck. Mel turned to Maggie, who had tears in her eyes. All three of them, Mel realized, were moving backwards, away from Harry. As though he was a threat. Because he was a threat. 

“I told you,” Charity said, her voice grim but triumphant. 

“Ladies, please listen -”

“Get out.” Mel turned, surprised, at Macy’s words. Next to her, Maggie was nodding. Mel had been thinking the exact same thing, but her sisters had always been more understanding when it came to the Elders and their rules. 

Harry’s hands dropped to his side. He looked lost, but Mel didn’t want to feel sorry for him, she wouldn’t feel sorry for him, not after he had lied, not after the way he had treated Fiona. 

Macy spoke again.

“Both of you, get out.” 

For a second, Harry just stared at them, the lost look still in his eyes. Then he seemed to pull himself together and nodded. “I will leave as soon as Charity does.” He turned to Charity, who raised her eyebrows.

“Fine.” She conjured another one of her portals. “I’ve got a lot to talk over with the Elders tonight.” The look she threw at them let them know it was not going to be a pleasant conversation. 

As soon as she was gone, Harry turned to to the Veras. “The Elders will not take your rebellion lightly. I understand you do not want me as your Whitelighter anymore, but you are in danger -” He took a step forward, and all three of the Veras instinctively raised their hands, ready to use their powers if he came any closer. 

“We said, get out.” This time it was Mel who spoke.

Harry gave them a last look, and the expression on his face was so heartbroken that Mel had to push away feelings of sympathy. A second later, he was gone. 

The attic was silent. 

Finally, Maggie spoke up. 

“What now?"


	6. And The One Time Harry Saved Them (From Fiona)

Harry looked down at his teacup, wishing he could pour something stronger than tea into it. Still, he resisted the urge. If he was going to meet his demise tonight, either due to arrest by the Elders or death by Fiona and/or the Sarcana, he had made up his mind to at least go with some dignity.

He had lost his charges (he determinedly pushed the word ‘family’ out of his mind); lost his sacred position as Whitelighter; been disillusioned about how scared that position probably was, considering the Elders were not nearly as pure of intention as he had thought; and had nearly been strangled to death by his ex. It had been a bad enough night already, he wasn’t going to make it any worse by being confronted by enemies while stinking drunk.

“You’ve had probably the worst night of your life, and you’re alone, in your office, drinking tea. God, you’re British.”

He looked over to the doorway, not surprised to see Jada there. Granted, he had thought she would orb in rather than just walk through the door, but he had known he’d probably see her this night.

“What do you want?” Harry looked at her over the rim of his teacup. “To fight?” He sighed. “For Fiona’s honor, or Mel’s, or the honor of all the Whitelighters who didn’t let themselves be used by the Elders?” He sighed again. “I won’t say I don’t deserve it, but I’m honestly not open to it. Let’s just skip the bantering and magical duel and you toss me out a window.” He took a sip of tea. “Honestly, it’ll only be the third worst thing to happen to me tonight.”

Jada knocked the tea cup out of his hand; his tea spilled all over the desk. He looked at the brown liquid on his papers and thought about how much of a mess this would make, and then remembered that someone would kill or kidnap him before Monday (possibly right at his very moment), and that he didn’t have to worry about teaching ever again.

“I don’t have time to watch you throw a one-man pity party.” Jada put her palms on the desk, staring straight at him. “The Veras are missing. I think Fiona took them.”

His stomach dropped, his blood froze.

“No.”

Not the Veras, not them, not three kind and generous and open-hearted people who had done nothing more than make the mistake of letting him into their lives, who were going to pay the ultimate price for their empathy. He pictured Fiona inflecting unspeaking horrors on them and wanted to vomit.

“Mel came back to Sarcana headquarters tonight. She was furious, told us that the Elders had lied to her. And you.” Jada raised an eyebrow. “She said you had lied to her.”

“I didn’t tell her the truth about Fiona, about how I sent her Tartarus,” Harry said numbly, too terrified to defend himself or soften the truth.

“She was furious, yelling about you, about the Elders, about Charity.” Jada closed her eyes. “And Fiona heard her.”

“Fiona wasn’t well from Tartarus. All those years of torture…it warped her. But the Sarcana didn’t want to give up on her. Not after everything she’d done for us,” Jada said. “Any mention of you or Charity sent Fiona into a rage, so we kept the fact that you were Mel’s Whitelighter from her.”

Harry closed his eyes, picturing the depth of Fiona’s well deserved anger at him being inflected upon the innocent Mel.

“We tried to stop her, but when she heard you were Mel’s Whiteligher, she went on a rampage through the base… She was unstoppable,” Jada said quietly. Harry was remained of facing Fiona ages ago, of the power she had displayed, a power he had known instinctively was too much to defeat…

Jada continued. “By the time everyone regained consciousness, Mel was gone. We went to the Veras’…and Macy and Maggie were gone too.”

“I have to - I have go get them,” Harry said. His head swam. “I have to find them, I have to tell the Elders -” He stood up, trying to keep from swaying. He no longer seemed to have any feeling in his legs.

Jada grabbed his shoulders, her gaze intense. “You can’t tell the Elders -”

Harry shook his head, trying to get rid of the lightheadedness. “I know you don’t approve of the Elders, but they have the power to stop Fiona -”

“Less than three hours ago the Veras attacked Charity and essentially divorced their allegiance from the Elders. They might rescue the Veras, but after they’re away from Fiona I don’t know what they’ll do to the sisters. The Elders need the Charmed Ones’ powers, at any cost possible.”

Harry paused, unsure of what to do. Images of the Elders tampering with the girls’ memories, locking them away, stealing their powers -

“You won’t be alone. I’m coming to get the girls too,” Jada said.

Harry nodded. “Where will the rest of the Sarcana be meeting us?”

“No, I’m taking care of Fiona by myself.”

“What?” No one, no matter how powerful, could take Fiona down by themselves. Fiona had spent years in the pits of Tartarus, she would be crazed and full of unspeakable magic the rest of them wouldn’t dare to think of in their worst nightmares. The Sarcana’s goal had been to raise Fiona, and they wouldn’t try to stop her?

“They might not know where Fiona is right now, but in a few hours they’ll figure it out, and then i’ll will be swarming with Elders. And if they find Sarcana members on site, they won’t ask if they were there to help the Veras or Fiona, they’ll just attack. And even if they do realize that we’re there for the Veras, they’ll still take anyone back to Athene for integration and imprisonment.”Harry wished he could say that the Elders wouldn’t do that, but of course they would. And before the Veras, he would have gone along with it.

Jada raised her hands, glowing with blue energy. “I was the one who raised Fiona. I’ll be the one to stop her.”

Harry hesitated. Even if he still wasn’t sure if he trusted the Sarcana, he didn’t want Jada to be hurt. But the more people that fought Fiona, the better the chance that the Veras would be able to escape unharmed. And if Fiona wanted to kill someone, he would make sure it was him, rather than the Veras or Jada.

He didn’t mind the thought of dying to save the Veras, particularly now. He would have laid down his life for them in any situation, out of duty and out of love, but now he barely even thought about it. Because if he failed the Veras now, if he let them die at the hands of a monster he had created, he would want to die anyway.

He would happily let death take him to save his Charmed Ones.

*

When he had linked his arm with Jada’s, and let her orb them to where she suspected Fiona had taken the Veras, he had desperately hoped that Jada would take him to a warehouse, an abandoned house, even an Elder sanctuary, rather than where he knew, in his gut, they were going.

So when he opened his eyes and saw Fiona’s mental institution standing in front of him, crumbling and abandoned, but still standing, he wasn’t surprised. Just overcome with a sense of hopelessness. Nothing but horrible things had happened here. Fiona being committed against her will, being drugged into submission, then finally breaking free, only to unleash mass carnage. And now he was back here, years later, knowing that more horror would happen here tonight.

He slowly walked into the institution with Jada, out of trying to keep calm, and out of fear. Not for himself, but for the people he cared about. What he was too late, and Fiona had already -

Harry jumped when Jada grabbed his arm. She nodded to a room just a few feet from them. Now that he wasn’t distracted with thoughts of what wash happening to the Veras, he could feel the power coming from the room, almost like a vibration, thrumming through his veins. An incredibly powerful magical being was inside.

Fiona. And where Fiona was, his charges were. He could feel in his bones, every Whitelighter instinct alerting him.

He and Jada creeped up to the door, slowly peering around it.

The Veras were sitting in the middle of the room. Each was tied to a chair, ropes made of glowing energy, just like Charity’s, binding them there. The only difference was that while Charity’s magic was purple, Fiona’s was green. Cloth had been tied around their mouths, clearly to keep them from summoning him and catching Fiona by surprise.

It was, quite obviously, a trap. Harry knew that from the second he laid eyes on them, sitting in the middle of the room, as though someone had lined them up there, just waiting for him. The three most important people in his life, and in danger, but so easily reached, if he just wanted to walk into the room -

Mel was the first to notice him. For just a second, her eyes widened, and then her face reverted back to the half panicked, half furious expression it had before. The clever woman didn’t try to shout a warning to him, knowing it would attract Fiona’s attention. Instead, she discreetly tilted her head, as though trying to loosen the gag by rubbing her shoulder against the fabric. Harry followed the direction of her head and his heart stopped.

Fiona was sitting by the window. It was the first time he had seen her in decades.

She was all sharpness and angles, caused by her bony, too thin frame. Next to her lay a long dagger with a black blade. It glinted in the moonlight, the way the light played off of it revealing it to be made of onyx, rather than any metal. In Fiona’s hands, she twirled the scythe of Tartarus. Harry frowned, confused. Mel had told Charity she’d gotten rid of it…

The second he thought it, Harry felt foolish. Of course Mel hadn’t gotten rid of it. Mel, who had seen through Charity from the start, had lied to her. Mel, who had only known Charity for a short time, had comprehended that she and the Elders couldn’t be trusted. Meanwhile, Harry had been too wrapped up in his feelings for Charity to not sense anything amiss. Once again, Harry felt shame at just how badly he had let the Veras down. Then he felt even worse as he realized exactly why Fiona had the scythe.

It was the perfect revenge - Harry’s old charge was going to send his new charges to Tartarus. The only thing she was waiting for Harry to arrive, to make him witness it.

Harry glanced at Jada and saw, from her wide eyes, that she had comprehended everything too.

Jada jerked her head towards the window, and then pointed to herself. Harry nodded. It was a good plan - Fiona was clearly expecting him, but she probably wasn’t expecting Jada.

As Jada began to creep away from the door, Harry straightened up and walked in. Fiona, who had been gazing out of the window, immediately snapped to attention so fast that he knew she had just been pretending to be lost in thought.

Harry kept his eyes on Fiona, but his heart twisted when he heard a little squeak from Maggie, and a sharp inhale of breath from Macy. He resisted the urge to look at them, to reassure himself and see up close that Fiona hadn’t harmed them. 

Fiona’s eyes glistened with crazed rapture, as the revenge she had no doubt dreamed about for years was happening before her eyes. “Harry.”

“Fiona.” Harry walked slowly towards her. _Keep her talking, keep her distracted, keep her away from the girls -_

Fiona stood up, grabbing the dagger with her free hand. Her eyes flashed between him and the Veras, clearly wondering who to attack first. He had to grab her attention, fast.

“I assume, from all this effort, you wanted to see me?” He tried to effect a casual air, to frustrate Fiona, make her want to attack him instead of the Veras.

“Very much.” Fiona grinned, her smile too wide, her eyes too bright. “And I assume my sister is lurking somewhere nearby too?” Fiona’s eyes darted everywhere, as though expecting Charity to materialize from the walls.

“Charity isn’t coming,” Harry said. “I’ve broken with the Elders.”

Fiona’s smile dropped, a look of pure and utter shock replacing it.

“You broke…with the Elders?” she said. For the first time, there was no menace or anger in her voice, just confusion.

“When the Elders found out that the Sarcana had brought you back from Tartarus, they told me. But they didn’t want me to tell the Veras the truth about what happened to you,” Harry said. “And I believed that was wrong. That witches deserve to know the truth.” It was a long shot, but Harry desperately hoped that if he could provide proof he had changed, she might release the Veras.

Fiona just stared at him for a second, and then slowly looked at the Veras. Harry quickly moved to stand in front of them.

“You broke with the Elders…for them?” Fiona raised a shaking hand, pointing it at the Veras.

Harry stood, unsure of what to say.

Fiona screamed out, her voice brittle and high. “You broke with the Elders, for _them_!” Her voice cracked on the final word. Her eyes blazed with fury, and with a scream, she raised the scythe.

Harry leapt towards her, when the wall exploded. Suddenly he was on the floor, his ears ringing, choking on dust. He was too late.

But when he looked up, there was no cracks exploding in the ground, no fire reaching up from the earth. Instead, Jada stood in the remains of the wrecking ball-sized hole she had created in the wall. Her hands crackled, bolts of light racing over them. She flew at Fiona, light shooting from her hands.

Harry took advantage of the fight to go to the Veras. The closest person was Maggie, and he knelt next to her, trying to look at all three at the same time.

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

They shook their heads ‘no’, but now that he was up close, he could see the sisters weren’t in good condition. There were bruises and cuts on them, and Maggie was sporting a black eye. Signs of struggling with Fiona, no doubt.

For a second the guilt came crashing down on him, but he pushed it away. He could despise himself when the Veras were safe.

“Right.” He gave a short nod. “I’ll get you out of here. I promise.” At that, he began to examine the ropes that bound Maggie, and felt his heart sink. There was no knot - the ends of the rope had magically melded together.

Harry swore under his breath, unsure of what to do, when the onyx knife slid by him, flying across the floor, propelled by the fight. Harry grabbed it, and completely out of ideas, tried it on the ropes. It was out of franticness and a desire for a solution that he did it, but to his surprise, the blade slid through the purple cords like butter, instantly freeing Maggie from the chair. Harry quickly cut through the ropes around her ankles and wrists, and she was out of the chair and kneeling next to him in a heartbeat. He put the knife in her hand, nodding to her sisters.

“You take care of them. I need to go help Jada.”

As Maggie began to cut away Macy’s bindings, Harry ran across the room to the fight between Fiona and Jada. Jada was giving it her all, but Fiona was clearly more powerful. She deflected every electrical blast Jada threw, and was countering with her own blasts. Harry reached them just as Fiona threw the biggest blast yet at Jada, forcing Harry to tackle Jada to the ground.

“I can orb, you idiot!” Jada said, grabbing him and, indeed, orbing them out of the path of the next incoming blast. “You don’t need to shove me to the ground!”

“Excuse me for trying to help,” Harry yelled. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Macy had been freed, and Maggie was now cutting Mel free of the chair.

Fiona grinned. “While you’re talking -“ She extended her hand, and suddenly a blur flew past Harry, and then Mel was in Fiona’s arms.

“No!” Maggie and Macy screamed in unison. Fiona’s head whipped towards them, and she grinned. The knife flew out of Maggie’s hand into Fiona’s. In an instant it was against Mel’s throat.

Jada screamed in fury, her hands lighting up again. Still, she remained frozen, sure, as did Harry, that if she took one step forwards Fiona would slit Mel’s throat.

Fiona backed out of the room, grinning wildly. The second she was out of sight, Harry orbed, guessing where she would be taking Mel.

_*_

When Fiona burst through the door of the institution’s roof, Mel in her arms, Harry was already standing on the roof, waiting for her. Fiona froze, one arm wrapped around Mel, the other holding the onyx dagger at Mel’s throat.

“Feels familiar, doesn’t it?” Fiona said, her voice trembling. “Takes you back to years ago… Us on the roof, me with all the power, all the options, and you, about to make some stupid plea -”

“Fiona,” Harry said, reaching out a hand, trying hard to keep it from shaking, “you’re upset with me. Let Mel go.”

Fiona gave a scream of laughter, holding Mel even tighter, the dagger right against her throat. Mel had been freed from the chair, but her ankles and wrists were still bound, a cloth still shoved in her mouth. As the dagger touched her throat, she let out of a muffled cry, and her eyes met Harry’s, full of fear. His heart broke at the sight of Mel, normally so brave, now terrified.

“You think you know what I’m feeling?” Fiona said, her eyes wide and alight with madness. “You think you know _anything_ about what I’m feeling?” She pressed the dagger even harder into Mel’s throat, and Harry’s heart stopped when he saw droplets of blood begin to run down Mel’s neck.

“You abandoned me! You refused to stand by me, and then you let me get tortured in that mad house. When you finally showed up, I thought it was to help me.” Fiona was sobbing now. “But it was to side with them. My sister, and my Whitelighter…” Fiona gave a keening wail of pain, years of pain and fear and hatred all flooding out of her.

“You’re right. I betrayed you.” Without even thinking about it, Harry began to walk towards her, drawn to his former charge’s pain. “And nothing I do will make up for it.” He laid a hand on Fiona’s shoulder, so bony and sharp. Her head was turned down, but her hand still held the dagger. “But you can have your revenge. Let Mel go, and take me -“ He thought it was soothe her. Instead, her head snapped up at the words and her face contorted into a vicious snarl as she dove the dagger into his chest.

Pain slammed into him as the dagger cut through his body, feeling it touch organs and veins and bones that he had never even known had feeling, because he had never felt anything so horrifically wrong with them before. Fiona tossed Mel to one side with her free hand, Mel landing hard on the ground. Fiona wrapped both hands around the dagger and shoved, her foot coming up to slam into Harry’s stomach, allowing her to draw the dagger out of his chest easily.

“It’s still all about her, isn’t it?” Fiona said. She raised the dagger again. Harry heard Mel’s muffled screams, but she could do nothing more than lie on the concrete, just like Harry was doing. “You changed for _them_ , you broke the rules for _them_ , but you wouldn’t do the same for me?”

And Harry saw, with horrific clarity, that nothing would ever appease Fiona. She was too far gone, there was too much damage done to ever do anything to stop her. Nothing that he offered or bargained would stop her from her sole goal to kill the Veras, to punish him by hurting the people he could not stand to lose. Until he was as alone and his thoughts were as tortured as Fiona’s. And that would have been okay, he could have accepted that as his punishment, the justice deserved for failing Fiona, except that it would mean the Veras’ deaths. And that he could never let happen.

Fiona grabbed Mel by her hair, dragging her away.

“No…” Harry tried weakly to grab for her, but his arm barely moved.

Out of reach of Harry, Fiona stopped and raised the knife. Her eyes locked with Harry’s, and she gave a savage grin.

_Not Mel, please not Mel, don’t hurt Mel -_

Urgency flooded through him and he tried to get up, placing a bloodied hand on the ground and the other on his chest, but he could only rise to his knees, barely able to keep conscious. He swayed back and forth, the effort of staying up right too much.

Fiona swung the knife down.

Harry fell forward, but not onto the roof. He fell into nothingness, a black void, and then a second later air hit him, and a soft body, and the blade of a dagger.

And then he was falling, falling with Fiona, the force of his orbing into Fiona to shield Mel had sent himself and the dagger wielding woman hurtling over the roof of the building. The last protection he could give the Veras.

It all came at him too fast, but there was screaming and pain and then blackness -

*

The ropes stopped her powers. She knew that, logically, but something must be happening, something must have gone wrong, because everything was stopped now. The air felt thick against her face, her head spun, and time must have stopped.

Because it couldn’t have - Harry couldn’t be -

And then Jada was there, mumbling a spell to make the ropes fall away, pulling the cloth out of her mouth. Macy and Maggie suddenly appeared, hugging her, tears falling from their faces onto hers.

And then suddenly the world seemed to speed up again, and Mel couldn’t get the words out fast enough. With every word that came out of her mouth, she felt fear that it wasn’t fast enough. They needed to know _now._ They needed to go as fast as possible, to make sure Harry was -

“He’s down there. He’s on the ground. He pushed Fiona off the building and they fell -”

Jada grabbed Mel with one hand, and held out her other hand for Macy and Maggie to take. A second later, they were on the ground, in front of Harry.

And then time seemed to skip and suddenly Mel was on the grass, blood soaking into her pants, holding Harry’s sweater in her fists, as though she just had to shake him and he would wake up, because he always woke up, he always came when she needed him and she needed him now and why wasn’t he coming why wasn’t he opening his eyes -

“Jada, Jada help him, heal him, please -" Mel was sobbing, the tears blurring her vision and her voice choking in her throat.

“This is -" Jada looked over Harry, and Mel could see the news wasn’t good. “I’m not sure if I can heal all of this -"

Mel collapsed, her body seemed to be nothing anymore, nothing holding her up. Next to her she could hear other screams and sobs.

Jada’s face tightened, and then she rolled up her sleeves. She nodded. “I can try.” She hesitated. “But I can’t promise anything.“

White met red as Jada’s hands touched Harry’s chest. Mel wasn’t sure which one would win - as fast as Jada tried to heal him, the red was spreading over his vest and his shirt and dripping to the ground -

Jada was panting, sweat pouring down her face. “Fiona jinxed that knife, I know it. This shouldn’t be this hard -"

“Guys -" It was the first word Maggie had said that night, and it made Mel look up.

Bright lights were flashing in the distance. Swirls of energy ripped open the sky.

“Elders.” Jada’s eyes widened even more. “ _All_ of the Elders -"

“You can’t be here.” Mel said. “Is Harry healed enough -"

Jada shook her head, not moving from her position. “I don’t know -"

“You go, we’ll stay with him. The Elders will know what to do.”

Jada shook her head again, her hands trembling. The light was gone from her hands now. “You attacked Charity, Harry was declared a traitor. I can’t leave you here -“ She reached out towards the Veras. “Take my hands, and grab Harry.”

Charity’s scream cut through the night, as she saw the body of her sister. Mel heard footsteps, growing closer. Jada reached toward them, half-stumbling, half-falling. “Hold on -“

“Wait!” Mel said, desperately trying to grab for everybody, but it was too late. There was a flash of light, and suddenly they were in the tattoo parlor.

Jada swayed, passing out on the floor.

Mel looked around, finding her sisters on either side of her. Only her sisters.

“Where’s Harry?”

*

He had to get up, he couldn’t stay on the roof. He had to find the girls, find the Veras -

“Harry.”

He had to find them, to save them from Fiona -

“Harry, just hang on.”

The girls, his girls, where were they -

Harry’s eyes opened, and Charity’s blurred face came into view.

“The girls - ” It took all his energy to make his lungs push out the words. His throat seared as though someone had slashed it.

“I’m so sorry, Harry. The girls are gone.”

*

He wanted to drift away, but the Elders wouldn’t let him. Just a short while ago he had been a traitor. Now they seemed desperate to save his life.

Charity appeared in his room, sometimes more than three times a day. He didn’t want to see her. If the Elders had arrived earlier, had been more truthful with the Veras, then maybe the sisters would still be alive.

And he would be reminded of the inescapable truth, the one that he thought of almost every conscious second - that he had lied to the girls too. That he had failed them. That he had failed Fiona. And through that failure, he had created the monster that had killed the Veras.

And then he would drift down into the darkness, hoping that the Elders wouldn’t be able to save him.

Just like he couldn’t save his girls.


	7. And the One Time He Saved Them (From Fiona...And Charity)

After a week of waiting for news about Harry, pacing up and down every inch of the tiny safe house the Sarcana had put them in, Mel wasn’t sure which was worse - her time with Fiona, thinking she and her sisters would be killed, or her time waiting for news of Harry, if he had survived, if the Elders were hurting him.

A burst of light suddenly appeared in the center of the room, flashing brightly, and then it faded, revealing Jada, carrying a pizza box and an unreadable expression.

“There’s good news, and there’s shitty news. Which do you want first?” Jada slid the pizza across the table. Over the past week, Mel had learned that her preferred method of breaking bad news was to do it with food.

It helped a bit.

“Bad news,” Macy said, pacing in the corner.

“Good news,” Maggie said, picking up a slice of pizza. She looked at it for a second, then dumped it on a paper plate.

“Tie-breaker,” Jada said, handing Mel a slice of pizza. None of the Veras had exactly been hungry in the past week, but Mel had, at least, been eating somewhat regular meals, mainly because Jada was always watching her to make sure she ate something.

Mel looked at her wan sisters, and decided they they all needed something good. “Good news.”

“I got news from my contact inside the Elders’ headquarters. Harry is still alive, and it seems like he’ll be staying that way.”

All of the Veras looked at Jada, stunned.

“The Elders finally managed to heal his wounds. Physically, he’s going to be okay.”

Macy braced herself against the wall, Mel nearly choked on her pizza from trying to let out a happy “Yes!”, and Maggie screamed with joy and flew out of her chair to hug Jada, who looked torn between amusement and shock.

“Well I didn’t do anything,” Jada said, although she looked slightly pleased at Maggie’s hug.

Macy was the first to see the bad news.

“You said he was going to be okay ‘physically’? What about mentally?”

“We’re not sure.” Jada looked down at her slice of pizza, and Mel knew it was bad. Jada never danced around news, good or bad. For her to do so now wasn’t a good sign.

“The Elders seem worried, but that’s not a guarantee of anything. Just a few days ago, they were worried Harry was going to die. Now he’s recovering.”

“But?” Mel said.

“All we know is that his food trays are being returned uneaten, the Elders are worried, and Charity’s practically camping outside of his room.”

Macy swore quietly. Mel and Maggie turned to her in surprise, but didn’t say anything so Jada could continue.

“My contact isn’t able to get close enough to grab him. The Elders are taking every precaution available. Only a few select Elders and Whitelighters are able to be in his room, and only for a short period of time. According to my contact, that jinxed knife did some serious damage, and they’ve been trying to patch him up for days.”

“This my fault,” Mel said. “You told me to grab everyone, and I couldn’t -”

“You only have two hands. I should have been able to think ahead and grab Harry -” Macy said.

Maggie nodded. “And I could have -”

“Guys, as much as I love playing the blame game here, this isn’t helping,” Jada said. “I teleported too quickly, you didn’t grab him, we all fucked up -”

“You were barely conscious,” Mel interrupted. “It’s a miracle you were able to get us to the tattoo parlor. This is not your fault.”

Macy and Maggie nodded.

“You saved us from the Elders,” Macy said. “who knows what they would have done to us?” _And who knows what they’re doing to Harry_ , echoed unspoken in the room.

“What if they think he knows where we are? What if they’re hurting him?” Maggie asked.

“They wouldn’t hurt him. He’s your best chance of finding you three,” Jada said. “That’s why they’re working so hard to keep him alive. They’re hoping you’ll come get him.”

“We _do_ need to go get him,” Macy said. “We can’t just leave him there.” She twisted her hands, unable to keep still. “He wasn’t even conscious when we left. The last thing he saw was Fiona stabbing him. Who knows what the Elders told him?”

“And it’s not exactly like the Elders are known for giving out information,” Mel said. “Obviously. Do you think he knows anything about what happened after that?”

Jada sighed, leaning back in her chair. There was a long silence while she thought. Finally, she spoke, her face resigned. 

“This is playing right into the Elders’ hands…but the Sarcana have a duty to protect Whitelighters that have defected from the Elders. I can’t just leave him there.”

“So it’s agreed.” Macy finally stopped pacing. “We need to get Harry.”

Jada slumped down into the chair, looking worried. Then she shrugged and held up her hands, small bolts of light running between her fingers. “Well, on the bright side, maybe I’ll get to shock a few Elders.”

*

A few days later, Jada orbed them to the outskirts of Athene. For the headquarters of the Elders, Macy had thought their residence would be grand and imposing. Instead, it was a large manor house, situated in the country. It looked perfectly normal on the outside; the only thing standing out was its size.

“Okay,” Jada said, “my contact said we had thirty minutes to get in and out.” She was trying to seem calm, but Macy could see her eyes darting around in nervousness.

They walked across the lawn and into the large house, and Macy had to hold back a gasp. While it looked like a normal house on the outside, on the inside, the house was a maze of grand marble floors, pillars, and large, elegant paintings.

“Two rights, then the third door on the left,” Jada murmured, starting forward. Macy looked at her sisters, and saw that their faces held the same eager, nervous expression that Macy knew she had on. She wound her arms through theirs, and tried to remain calm.

The walk to Harry’s room was both too short and too long. Macy desperately wanted to see him, and was scared about what she would find when she did. As Jada opened Harry’s door, she held her breath.

To her relief, the door opened to a place that was a far cry from the prison she had pictured. Harry’s room was a normal, if impersonal, bedroom - cream colored walls and bedspread, and a small window that was letting the morning sun in. He was sitting up in bed, looking out of the window. His gaze didn’t shift as the door opened.

The sisters and even Jada hesitated, unsure of what to do. Macy wanted to call out to him, but the look on his face scared her. It was blank, devoid of all emotion. Blank and empty. Macy knew that her sisters and Jada could feel it too - something was very, very wrong her Whitelighter.

The group paused for so long that Harry finally spoke.

“Say what you want and leave, Charity.” His voice was toneless.

For a minute more there was more silence, nobody still sure of what to say. Finally Macy gathered her courage and said, “Harry?”

His head twisted so fast that Macy was afraid he’d hurt himself. Emotion flooded back into his face - disbelief and shock. He raised himself on the bed, looking as though he was trembling. “Ladies?”

Suddenly Maggie was running towards him, slamming into him and wrapping her arms around him. “Harry!”

Macy’s feet were moving then, without her being conscious of it, and out of the corner of her eye she could see Mel running right by her side. Then she was crashing into him and Maggie, wrapping her arms around them both. She could feel Mel’s arms over hers, wrapped around her shoulders. There was crying and laughing, all four of them finally together again.

All of them were trying to talk at once, and finally Macy had to lean back and draw her sisters with her so that they could get a good look at Harry. He had healing bruises on his face, and a few buttons on his pajama top were unbuttoned, showing glimpses of a chest with bandages on it.

As she leaned back, he grabbed one of her hands, as though afraid she’d disappear. He looked at all of them, tears in his eyes. His free hand patted the bandages on his chest.

“It finally happened,” he said. When Macy gave him a questioning look, he said: “I’m dead.”

He didn’t exactly seem upset about being dead.

“Harry, you’re alive,” Maggie said. She had one of her hands on his shoulder, and Macy could see her frowning, taking in the emotions surging through him.

“But -”

“Jada teleported us away after Fiona died. We tried to teleport you too, but we weren’t able to get -” As Mel began telling everything that had happened, Macy focused on Harry.

He was listening intently, his eyes on Mel, but one of his hands was still clutching Macy’s, hanging on for dear life. The other hand was now holding on to Maggie’s. Macy realized that, with his eyes on Mel and his hands in Macy’s and Maggie’s, he was trying to keep them all near him.

Mel, next to her, was talking excitedly. “…and so we decided to come and get you - we didn’t know what the Elders were doing to you -”

“They told me you were dead,” Harry said. He was staring at them, his eyes jolting from face to face, as though still not sure they were real.

“I knew it,” Mel said, furious. “I knew they must have lied to you.”

Macy’s blood ran cold. It was all adding up in her mind - the uneaten food trays, how long it had taken him to recover from Fiona’s attack, how blank his face had been when they had first walked in.

He had spent a week thinking they were dead. And he had blamed himself for it.

He hadn’t _wanted_ to get better.

She stood up off the bed, disgust coursing through her. How could the Elders have done this? How could _Charity_ have done this? Seen Harry suffering and punishing himself, and willing himself to grow weaker. How could nobody have stopped this? How could anybody have bee this cruel? All of a sudden, Macy felt more afraid of the Elders than ever before. “We need to get you out of here.”

Jada, who had been watching by the door, started forward, when the door flew open behind her. She spun around, hands glowing blue. In unison, the Veras raised their hands. All four witches tensed, ready to use their powers.

Charity was standing in the doorway, holding a food tray, her mouth hanging open.

Maggie was the first to speak, scowling at the blonde. “Hey Charity.”

“Girls. You’re…here.”

“Yep.” Mel crossed her arms over her chest. “Want to tell us why Harry thought we were dead?”

“I didn’t tell him you were dead,” Charity said, her eyes darting around the room, taking in the furious Veras, the enraged Jada, Harry glaring at her. “I said you were gone. Not dead.”

“You knew what I thought.” Harry’s voice was ice. “You wanted to ensure I wouldn’t try to escape, and making me think there was no reason to leave was the best way of doing that.”

Jada stepped forward. “You wanted all the fight out of him, but also you wanted to be able to say you weren’t technically lying.”

“We’re taking Harry home,” Maggie said.

“Athene is the central headquarters of the Elders and Whitelighters,” Charity said. “This is where he belongs.”

“Harry belongs with us,” Mel said, helping him stand. She looked at Harry. “Do you want to stay here?”

“Absolutely not.” He was glaring at Charity with absolute hatred.

“Then you’re coming home with us,” Mel said.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” Charity said. Her hands were glowing, a thin purple rope beginning to form between her palms.

“Like hell you can’t. He’s our family, not yours,” Maggie said. She hooked her arm through Harry’s, glaring at Charity.

“You gave up that right when you lied and imprisoned him,” Macy added.

“You don’t want to do this, Charity,” Harry said.

“It’s the Elders’ responsibility to make sure the Charmed Ones fulfill their destiny.” Charity glared at Jada. “They can’t do that by consorting with the Sarcana, and,” she narrowed her eyes at the Veras, who were all standing around Harry, “becoming too attached to Whitelighters.”

“You’re one to talk,” Macy muttered under her breath.

“So what’s the plan?” Harry asked. “Kill Jada and I, and then wipe the girls’ memories? Steal their powers? Force them to obey you?”

“If the Charmed Ones don’t fulfill their destiny, the world - the magical world _and_ the human world - will die.”

“And you think the Charmed Ones will be able to fulfill their destiny brainwashed or miserable or controlled? Or do you think they’ll do better with a Whitelighter guiding them, and a tentative alliance with the Elders?”

Charity’s eyes flashed to the Veras, who were glaring daggers at her.

“A tentative alliance?”

“Yeah, I’m not too thrilled about that idea either,” Mel said.

“For the safety of everyone. To avoid a war between the Elders and the Sarcana,” he said, nodding to Jada, “and to keep the magical community from choosing between the groups, and splitting in two.”

Nobody seemed to go for this plan, and Harry continued. 

“If we allow war to break out between those opposing the Source and its allies, then we have already lost. We’ll be too busy fighting each other to focus on the Source, and will be wiped out easily. I won’t deny that I’m unhappy with the Elders,” he said, allowing the bitterness welling up within him to reflect in his voice, “but that’s a conversation for another time and another day.”

“We can’t speak for the Sarcana,” Macy said. She saw what Harry was trying to do, saw how he was trying to save them, but she couldn’t help but remind everyone of this fact. The Veras might agree, but they still needed Jada’s agreement as well. After everything she had done for them, there was no way she and her sisters would walk away and leave Jada in Athene, in the hands of the Elders.

“An alliance…” Jada said. She frowned, tossing a lightening bolt from hand to hand. She looked at the Veras, and then Harry. Macy hoped she could read the expression on his face, the one Macy knew from fighting in his side battle after battle: _This is the only way we all get out of here alive._

Jada stared at Harry for a long time, then shook her head. Macy’s heart stopped, until she realized that Jada was shaking her head in disbelief, rather than saying “no”. “The rest of the Sarcana will kill me for this,” Jada said. “But if it’s to secure the safety of the world…”

“Thank you,” Harry said quietly. Then he turned to the Veras. “Ladies, what do you say?”

Macy looked at her sisters, giving them a quick nod. Maggie nodded as well. Mel frowned, but, looking at Jada, nodded.

“Fine,” Mel said. Suddenly, she erked her head at Charity. “But only if she means it.”

“I won’t agree and the rest of the Elders won’t either,” Charity said. “Why should we?”

“Because if you don’t, we’ll go down fighting,” Jada said, lightning crackling between her fingers. “And you’ll be the first person I go for.”

“Not to mention the trouble you’ll have from the Sarcana,” Harry added. “If Jada and the Veras don’t come back from this trip to Athene, they’ll start to wonder. And if the Veras show up, suddenly hand-in-hand with the Elders, after they ran from them just days ago, the Sarcana will start to talk. The Charmed Ones, saviors of the magical world, being controlled by the Elders. How do you think the magical community will respond to that?” 

Charity’s lips curled up into a snarl. “Most of the magical community believes the Sarcana are a terrorist group,” she spat. “They’d never believe them.”

“Do you really want to take that chance?” Harry asked.

Time seemed to stop. Macy felt her muscles tense. She could see her sisters and Jada bracing themselves.

Charity’s hands clenched into fists at her sides. “Get out.”

For a second, nobody moved. Finally, Jada started forward, hands still crackling with electricity. When Charity didn’t move, the Veras, Harry in between them, moved as well.

As they moved past her, Macy looked closer at Charity and instinctively recoiled, seeing the fury in her eyes. But as they walked out of the room, she didn’t move an inch.

Together, Jada, the Charmed Ones, and Harry walked out of Athene.

*

The second they had orbed back to the Vera living room, Macy gently pushed Harry onto the couch. The simple effort of leaving Athene and hanging on to Jada while orbing had made him pale and exhausted.

“I’ll get tea,” Maggie immediately ran out of the room, while Mel went to the fireplace to build a fire. It had been a week since they had been there, and the house was cold and smelled of dust. Jada leaned against the fireplace, watching Harry.

“I hate to say it, but the Elders won’t agree to an alliance for long.” Jada said.

Harry nodded. “I know. But it was the only way to get out of there alive.”

“Or not brainwashed,” Mel added drily.

“What’ll happen now?” Macy asked, passing Harry a blanket.

“I’ll gather the Sarcana,” Jada said.

Harry shook his head. “I’m not sure how much of a chance there is to avoid it, but if we do go to war, the Source will win in the end.”

“The Elders might wait until after the Source is defeated,” Macy said.

Jada shrugged. “It’s possible,” she said. “Get rid of the big problem, and while everyone is excited over that, take out the Sarcana as well. Then they’ll make something up and say we were working with the Source.”

Harry nodded. “Definitely. Until the Source is defeated, the Charmed Ones are needed. After that, all of us are expendable.”

“Then we’ll have to be ready for them,” Maggie said, coming back into the room, carrying a tea tray, loaded down with a teapot, cups, and biscuits.

Jada stood up. “I’ll report back to the Sarcana, let them know what to expect.” She nodded to Harry. “While you’re still recovering, I’ll have some Sarcana members posted nearby in case anyone tries anything. I’ll be back in about an hour or so, with a few of the Sarcana, to cast some protective spells and set up a guard.”

Harry smiled. “I never thought I’d say this to a member of the Sarcana, but I cannot tell you how grateful I am. If it hadn’t been for you, God only knows what the Elders would have done.” He turned to the sisters. “And not just to me.”

Jada shrugged, but she was hiding a smile. “Glad you see you care more about your witches than the Elders.” She hesitated. “I’d heard so much about you from Fiona, that when I came to you after Fiona grabbed these guys,” she nodded to the Veras, “I wasn’t sure if you really did care more about them than the Elders.” She let a small smile show now. “I’m glad I have my answer.”

Then, in a flash of light, she was gone.

“She’ll be back in an hour,” Maggie said, as Mel looked longingly at the spot where Jada had vanished.

“A Charmed One with a member of the Sarcana,” Harry took a sip of his tea. “A week ago, the idea would have made my blood run cold.” Then he put down his teacup, his face serious.

“I meant what I said before,” he said. “Back when…you learned the truth about Fiona.” He looked down at his teacup. “If you don’t want me as your Whitelighter, I understand. I will still strive to fight with the Sarcana to protect you, but if you want someone else for day to day protection, I’m sure the Sarcana can provide someone.”

For a second there was silence, as the Veras looked at Harry, who hadn’t looked up from his tea cup. Macy’s heart broke, seeing his expression, which was lost and ashamed.

Then she was knocked to the side as Mel flew at Harry, wrapping him in a hug. Harry sat stunned for a moment, and then tentatively wrapped his arms around her. His face held a shocked expression, although Macy couldn’t tell if that was from Mel’s hug or the fact that she had knocked his tea onto his chest.

“You said you had changed,” Mel said. “And you proved it when you went to fight Fiona for us.”

“Like I was going to let anything happen to you three. You’d probably haunt me for eternity.” A tentative smile began to grow on his face, and he looked over at Maggie and Macy hopefully.

“That should have been your first clue we weren’t dead,” Maggie said, walking over to hug him too.

“And after all the effort we went through to rescue you from the Elders,” Macy said teasingly, joining in the hug, “do you really think we’d just let you walk away now?”

“You think I would have learned by now to never underestimate your stubbornness,” Harry chuckled.

Mel was the first to break away from the hug, blinking heavily to try and hide the tears in her eyes. “I’ll go get the sleeping bags and blankets. We should probably all stay close tonight, at least until Jada comes back with a guard.”

“Good idea,” Macy said, although she had an idea that (although Mel would never admit it), her sister wanted to stay together more for the reassurance that after everything they had been through, they were all finally together again. Maggie followed Mel up the stairs, but Macy decided to stay by Harry. After thinking that she and her sisters were dead for a week, Macy knew that Harry would be nervous to have them all out of his sight. As it was, she could see Harry craning his neck, looking to see if Maggie and Mel were already coming back down the stairs.

“They’ll be back down in a minute,” Macy said, sitting down on an arm of the couch.

Harry chuckled, looking sheepish. “I just still can’t believe this is all real. I’d say it was all dream, but I never had…good dreams after I thought you three were gone.”

Macy put a hand on his knee. “We’re together again. And we’re going to stay that way.”

“Agreed,” Maggie said. Macy turned her to see her sisters coming down the stairs with blankets and pillow. Mel was carrying so much that she looked more like a pile of bedding with legs than a person. Macy used her telekinesis to raise the pile out of her sister’s arms, gently spreading out the blankets and pillows on the floor next to the couch.

“We’re family,” Mel said, “You’re stuck with us.”

“How horrific,” Harry said, smiling gently, fond affection in his eyes. He settled back on the couch, yawning.

“Get some sleep,” Macy said gently.

“Yeah,” Maggie said. “If you’re family, you’ve gotta fight along side family. We need you in top shape,” she said jokingly.

Harry smiled, looking lovingly at the sisters, at his family. “I’ll remember that.” 


End file.
